Born in Kolkata in 1921, self-taught artist Dipen Bose started to paint after giving up his job at Central Excise service around 1947. In 1953 his painting was presented to the president, federal Republic of Germany by Government of India. His artworks indulged in the usage of indigenous materials such as tempera, a limited palette with vibrant colors, lead pencils, and watercolors. He painted romantic landscapes, historical themes, and portraits, as well as scenes from daily rural life. The simplicity and elegance of refined figures are evidently soothing.
Inspired by his friend Indra Dugar, he moved towards traditional Indian Art, French Impressionism and Chinese Art. He sought inspiration from jain and kangra paintings, far eastern art and even impressionism, resulting in a style akin to Bengal School. It was exactly at that time when Zainul Abedin, Chittaprasad, Rathin Maitra, Prodosh Dasgupta were drawing on the reality of human sufferings around them while Dipen Bose quietly stood apart and painted from imagination. He also wrote articles on art in newspapers and journals.
To pay tribute to his contribution to Indian arts, a solo exhibition of Dipen Bose named ‘The invigorate masterstroke’ is going to be held at Creativity Art Gallery, Hauz Khas Village from 16th September to 24th of September. This show is curated by Paramita Sarkar and she makes an earnest effort to bring together his collections and a deep insight into his personal life.
In a candid conversation with The Daily Guardian curator Paramita Sarkar says, “Dipen Bose was a self-taught artist with no academic training in art. But inspired by his grandfather Nagendra Bose, he learned the oil painting technique from renowned artist Debiprasad Ray Chowdhury. Director of Creativity Art Gallery Shekhar Jhamb and I jointly planned to represent artist Dipen Bose’s work from his family’s personal collection in a unique way with more information and numerous varieties of work including his valuable personal belongings.”