Chittaprosad Bhattacharya Biography 
Chittaprosad Bhattacharya was an artist and painter known for political works. He strongly worked with leftist ideologies in West Bengal as a political artist since 1930s. He used watercolor and printmaking to draw on his canvas. He avoided oil painting. He sketched the painful Bengal famine on his canvass, which took away over three million lives of West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and Bangladesh in the year 1943. He depicted human suffering and deprivation in the face of capitalist policies through most of his sketches. In 2014, his bold communication of a social truth was celebrated at Mumbai’s Delhi Art Gallery in the show ‘Chittaprosad, A Retrospective’, paying homage to this great artist 25 years after his death.
Chittaprosad Bhattacharya was born on 21 June 1915 in Naihati. It was during his college days at Chittagong Government College in the mid1930s when he got drawn towards the leftist ideas. He chose his own means to resist feudal power – by colours and canvas. He opposed discriminations of the caste system and though being a Brahmin, he never used Brahmin Surname throughout his life. Apart from cartoons and illustrations, he also contributed in the form of articles.
Started his creative work in the 1930s, he sharply criticized the feudal system as well as British rule through his works. He used cheap materials to create his art, as he targeted normal man than art galleries. Over the years his works became priceless. Hungry Bengal – was his first published work, following the infamous Bengal famine in 1943. Just before Indian independence he settled in Mumbai. Later he disassociated himself from the newly structured communist party and its principles, though continued with his political works. His works reflect his reformist concerns.
Published: N/A
Updated: April 03, 2016
