`Art of Bengal' – a great book

With Asish Anand, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Ina Puri and 
Paula Sengupta

February 15, 2012: Yesterday I was at the ITC Sonar Art Gallery at the book release function of ‘The Art of Bengal' by Delhi Art Gallery hosted by our Foundation – Prabha Khaitan Foundation.

The 464-page volume has essays by Ina Puri, Paula Sengupta and Sanjoy Kumar Mallik. This must-have book for all art lovers is complete with a reference time line and 400 plates of works of art.

One of the co-authors is a personal friend of mine, so I decided to host this event in collaboration with ITC Sonar Bangla. 

The book was unveiled by santoor maestro Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma (picture) who has been kind enough to come all the way from Mumbai to release the book. 

With Chitrabhanu Majumdar

In fact, Kishore Singh and Ashish Anand from Delhi Art Gallery came down for this event.

The project, commissioned by the Delhi Art Gallery, is divided into different sections that trace art and artists from the late 18th century to 2010. 

Curator Ina Puri, who has chronicled Bengal’s art scene between 1947 and 2000 for the book describes the period as, “It was a very rich period, featuring important painters like Lalu Prasad Shaw, Partha Pratim Deb, Isha Mohammad and Chittrabhanu Majumdar. 
It was also a period peaking in theatre, film and music, so it tries to highlight, to portray the range of art practised in Bengal.”

With Ranjit Mallik

Priced Rs 9,000, the Book will be available at select bookstores by the end of the month, followed by a two-week exhibition starting April 4, when 200 works of art that appear on the pages of the book would be on display at The Harrington Street Arts Centre in Calcutta.

It is indeed too bulky to carry this Book comfortably in the hand but an excellent book as far as the Art of Bengal is concerned.

After the book release, I hosted a dinner in honour of Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma at my residence and invited friends from the music fraternity i.e., Bickram Ghosh, Tanmoy Bose, Ustad Rashid Khan. Among others, Aparna Sen, Gargi Roy Chowdhury, Ranjit Mallik, an Artist Chitrabhanu Mazumdar joined in.

With Rashid Khan, Gargi Roy and Tanmoy Bose

The evening ended quite late and I was really impressed to see the discipline in the classical music fraternity as Rashid, Tanmoy and Bickram, all the three not only touched the feet of Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and sought his blessings, but also refrained from consuming alcohol in his presence.

Today evening I shall out attending a couple of weddings.

ess bee