Jogen Chowdhury was born in 1939, in a village near Kotaliparha, now part of Bangladesh. At the age of 16, he enrolled at the Government College of Arts and Crafts in Kolkota in the year 1955 and graduated in 1960. Thereafter, he honed his skills at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. After having spent the better part of a decade in France he returned in the late 60s.
His individual style resonates with sinuous lines which impart seamless contour, his works portray a mix of social types of men and women in enigmatic situations with provocative gestures and hypnotic stares. His characters' body parts are often depicted as agile to the degree that they resemble an octopus placed in a dark dream space. Most of his portraits are projected silhouetted against a pitch-black dome. Meticulous lines are a vital element of Indian art heritage and Jogen Chowdhury has mastered the art of lines. By careful distortion of the form, he imparts the air of caricature in his figures of men and women. The figures are in focus and translate all the artist has to express. Colour is utilised to provide matter into the form.
On returning from Paris he was appointed as a textile designer in the Handloom Board in Chennai in 1968 which gave birth to his inclination towards the intricate world of textile. 'In Love in the Moonlit Night' a creation from the year 1973 he effortlessly infuses his vision and understanding of textile layout onto the canvas. In 1972 he was appointed as the curator of paintings at Rashtrapathi Bhavan, the official home of the President of India in Delhi. During his tenure as the curator, he was exposed to the various pictures of deities and gods that adorn the walls in this palatial abode. This stimulated the senses within and in the same decade he created pieces like the 'Ganesh with Crown' (1979) where the popular Hindu deity is sitting suspended in the black void which is synonymous with Chowdhury, legs crossed in an obscure form and arms raised in the exaltation.
His acquaintance with various dignitaries inspired him to create the 'Tiger in Moonlit Night' (1978), by far his most political narrative with a satirical approach. Where the tiger is a hapless victim. Around the same period, he also drew caricatures of obese, pot-bellied politicians armed with hypnotic stares. Chowdhury's art is rich in suggestions, it is to be apprehended without categorising our fund of knowledge, experience or memories. Jogen Chowdhury lives and works in Santiniketan, West Bengal.
"After a point all that matters is that I am happy with my work."
Jogen Chowdhury was born in 1939, in a village near Kotaliparha, now part of Bangladesh. At the age of 16, he enrolled at the Government College of Arts and Crafts in Kolkota in the year 1955 and graduated in 1960. Thereafter, he honed his skills at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. After having spent the better part of a decade in France he returned in the late 60s.