Osian's Auction Catalogue Indian Modern and Contemporary Art | March 2008

185 Education Had no formal training in art. The village sculptors and puppet players inspired him to become an artist. 1932-6 Chittagong Government College, Chittagong (present-day Bangladesh) 1960s Learned the techniques of Czech puppetry by Frantisek Salaba (a puppeteer who was living in Bombay at the time) Select Teaching and Infrastructure-building Activities 1934-39 Participated in the National Movement by making posters, drawings and cartoons 1940-48 Member of the Communist Party of India Published Hungry Bengal, a pamphlet documenting his experiences of the Bengal famine of 1943, most copies of which were burned by the British Raj before they could leave the press. A few were salvaged. His drawings of the Bengal Famine were published in Communist party journals People’s War and Janayudha 1946 Worked for the Left Press, Bombay 1949 Responded to the call of the World Peace Movement by contributing his art to the cause of World Peace 1950 Founded his own puppet-theatre, Khela Ghar, in collaboration with traditional Indian puppeteers 1952 Made a series of lino-cuts titled Angels Without Fairy Tales depicting Indian children as sufferers of poverty, disease and oppression 1960s Learnt the technique of Czech amateur puppetry from Frantisek Salaba, an amateur Czech puppeteer living in Bombay 1969 The Danish UNICEF Committee published the collection of his lino-cuts Angels Without Fairy Tales dedicated to the International Conference in Defence of Children Donated his series of paintings, titled Neglected Childhood, to the Danish UNICEF Committee Early 1970s Was involved in writing stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata for children, in verse form with illustrations done by himself Illustrated Indian Fables and Fairy Tales and With Puppets to Calcutta by the Czech writer, Norbert Fryd Select Solo Exhibitions 1956 Prague, Czechoslovakia Exhibitions in Denmark, Holland, Germany and USA 1964 Shilpayan, Calcutta 1979 Exhibition of Graphic Art, organised by Prague National Gallery, Czechoslovak Society for Foreign Relations and Mlada Fronta Publishers (Prague), Fronta Gallery, Prague, Czechoslovakia 1980 Chittaprosad, organised by Chittaprosad Art Archive, Chittabharati (Calcutta) and the Department of Information and Cultural Affairs, Government of West Bengal, Calcutta Information Centre, Calcutta (24–28 November) 1981 Chittaprosad – A Retrospective, Works acquired by Prague’s National Gallery since 1956, Prague, Czechoslovakia 1992 Birthday celebration Chitta Prosad , The Centre Art Gallery and Chitrakoot Art Gallery, Calcutta (21 June – 9 July) CHITTAPROSAD BHATTACHARYA b . 21 June 1915 Naihati, North 24 Parganas District, West Bengal d . 13 November 1978 Calcutta, West Bengal 1992 Exhibition of Selected Cartoons and Drawings to mark the 14 th Death Anniversary of the Artist, Alliance Française, Calcutta 1992 An Exhibition of Chittaprosad – To Commemorate his 77th Birth- day, The Centre Art Gallery and Chitrakoot Art Gallery, Calcutta (21June–9 July) 1995 Chittaprosad, Alliance Française de Delhi and Galerie Romain Rolland, New Delhi (7–20 March) Select Awards and Honours 1978 Chittaprosad Art Archive, an institute of research on Chittaprosad’s life and works established in Calcutta 1988 To Remember Chittaprosad On His Tenth Death Anniversary Day, a tribute published by Chalasani Prasada Roa, Editor, Eenadu, Hyderabad Select Collections ❖ Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi ❖ Ebrahim Alkazi and Art Heritage, New Delhi ❖ Goodricke Group Ltd., Kolkata and London ❖ Jane and Kito de Boer Collection, Dubai ❖ National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi ❖ Osian’s Archive and Library Collection ❖ Prague Museum of Art, Czechoslovakia