Untitled, Still Life

Medium:Mixed Media
Height:7 inch / 17.8 cm
Width:5 inch / 12.7 cm
Dimension:W: 12.7 cm × H: 17.8 cm

A lively mixed-media floral composition featuring flowing stems, decorative blossoms, and a vibrant folk-inspired palette.

Description

Jogen Chowdhury | Untitled | Mixed media on Paper | 7 x 5 inches | 2023

This charming mixed-media composition depicts a stylised flowering plant arranged in a decorative vessel, rendered with playful line work and a vibrant, pastel-inflected palette. The sinuous stems curve and intertwine, giving rise to exuberant, abstracted blossoms whose scalloped edges and rhythmic forms echo folk and decorative traditions. Bold outlines anchor the composition, while soft washes of yellow, pink, blue, and ochre infuse the surface with warmth and gentle luminosity. The pot itself is adorned with simple geometric motifs, grounding the lively upward movement of the plant. Balancing spontaneity with structure, the work transforms a familiar still-life subject into a lyrical celebration of growth, vitality, and ornamental beauty.

Born on 15 February, 1939 in Faridpur (now in Bangladesh), Jogen Chowdhury’s family moved to Calcutta following the partition.
Chowdhury studied art at the Government College of Art and Crafts, Calcutta, and subsequently at École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris. A student of Prodosh Das Gupta, Chowdhury worked in the expressionist style of figuration in his early years. He created his own gallery of the grotesque, featuring lewd men with bellies like sacks and women with loose, hanging breasts. The Paris sojourn sharpened his creative thought process, helping in the evolution of his distinctive personal style.

Chowdhury interprets the human form through the x-ray vision of his creativity: attenuated, exaggerated, fragmented, reconfigured, and rephrased. For Chowdhury, the body has to communicate in silence. Often placing his figures against a vacant background, he does not appropriate the specificity of place or environment; instead, he transfers feelings of anguish on to his figures through gestural mark-making. His dense, crosshatched lines simulate body hair and a web of veins takes away the smooth sensuality of the classical body to manifest the textures of life.
Chowdhury believes art in India is neither subsumed in the miniature traditions nor in those of Ajanta, for India is neither a monolith nor a static entity; and that a notion of Indianness should not be fixed into some kind of timeless loop. He has been awarded the Madhya Pradesh government’s Kalidas Samman, and was honoured at the 2nd Havana Biennale. He lives and works in Kolkata and Santiniketan.

Shipment DetailsThis artwork will be shipped unframed, either in roll form or flat, depending on its requirements—at no additional cost.

If you’d prefer the artwork to arrive ready to hang, please get in touch with us to arrange framing and shipping at applicable charges.

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