Chittaprosad Bhattacharya (1915-1978) Untitled (Figures)

Chittaprosad Bhattacharya (1915-1978) Untitled (Figures) inscribed 'Chittaprosad Bhattacharya, Bengal School' verso gouache and pastel on paper 52.2 x 78.4cm (20 9/16 x 30 7/8in). Footnotes: Provenance Property from a private collection, UK. Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi; Property from a private collection, Mumbai; Acquired from Saffron Art, Spring Online Auction, 11-12th March 2021, lot 105. 'In early fifties I occasionally met him in Calcutta. He used to stay with Khaled Chowdhury and Prabhas Sen at their Park Circus residence. Whenever we learnt he was in Calcutta Reba and I would go and see him. One day he came in with a huge bunch of Gladioli from the New Market and said 'I am going to paint. A painting sold today for three hundred rupees. I used all the money to buy this bouquet and oil paint and brushes.' Spending the entire amount like that as soon as it was earned was something we could not even imagine doing. During that period he did quite a lot of work in oil at that house. I remember, he moved away from the subject of war and famine and worked on secular themes. Whenever he did something new, he would write from Bombay and tell me [about it].' (Somnath Hore, Chittaprosad - the humanist, in Chittaprosad, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, 1993.) Chittaprosad's Bhattacharya was an Indian political artist, who satirized and criticized the feudal and colonial systems through his art. A self taught artist, he rejected the classicism of the Bengal school and worked primarily in watercolours, linocuts and woodcuts. He seldom signed the latter, owing to the fact that they were propagandistic and made for the masses. His depictions of the 1943 Bengal Famine were particularly impactful and drew international attention to the country's battle for independence from the British. He relocated to Bombay in 1946 and became disillusioned with the communist party and began to experiment with a style of art that he had previously rejected. Untitled (Figures) is a work from this period. Depicting three figures, a man, woman and child, possibly a family the colourful composition belies the undercurrent of dejection that permeates the work. Painted using an economy of lines, the woman is lying on what appears to be a makeshift mattress whilst the man sits next to her. The window can be seen to the right of man, and has been painted using the watered down blue that fills the composition. Chittaprosad still seems concerned by the plight of people, and this work sits within this oeuvre that is he renowned for. To see another depiction of a family, see Plate 42, Family in Chittaprosad: A Retrospective, Delhi Art Gallery, 2011, p.71 For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing