Genesis gallery steals the show with Gautam Mukherjee’s beautiful rendition of a 19th century Bengali life reminiscent of the Joranshako Thakur Bari

7^th January, 2008, Kolkata: The exhibition of Gautam Mukherjee’s paintings at Genesis Gallery titled “Nostalgia” draws sharp parallels with life in 19^th century Bengal and also with Satyajit Ray’s iconic film “Charulata” based on adaptation of Tagore’s “Nasta Nir”. It is interesting to find that even the paintings by the artist has frames as in a film with an image of a rickshaw appearing almost as an archetype alongside a domestic setting of a lonely wife engrossed in either reading or embroidery. Done in acrylics, the high-point of Gautam’s work lies in the detail portrayal of the characters, their costumes and props that include cats, parrots, books, and items of home décor as part of a quintessentially Bengali middle-class during the Raj era. The style of his work is very interesting- the artist has incorporated elements of Victorian architecture, film, photography and stage props into a synthetic collage that is both modern and contemporary. The depiction of the women, men and children in his works heavily reminds us of the style of Jamini Roy and Kalighat pot painters.

A quick conversation with Gautam Mukherjee revealed that he was very much inspired by Picasso’s cubist works as with works of Ganesh Pyne and Bikash Bhattacharjee. Isha Mody, Gallery Manager, Genesis Art Gallery said: “Gautam’s works will be auctioned very soon in New Delhi. We are helping emerging artists to make a place in the art industry both nationally and internationally. Along with other projects, we are organizing a charity art auction comprising artists from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan at Hotel Oberoi in New Delhi on 19^th Jan, 2008”. It all looks promising for the Indian art market as works exhibited like these not only will set the cash register ringing but also will give chance to look back in retrospect at a Bengali culture that reached the dizzy heights in the 19^th century at Joranshako Thakur Bari. It was also the time when the women of Joranshakho Thakur Bari broke conventions by publishing Bengali periodicals like Balok, Tatta Bodhini etc. The artist has craftily depicted this setting by making his women read books in one of his paintings amidst a classic fin-de-sicle backdrop of elegance and languidness.

 

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