D. P. Roy Choudhury | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1899-06-15)15 June 1899 Tejhat,Rangpur district, British India |
| Died | 15 October 1975(1975-10-15) (aged 76) |
| Occupations |
|
| Known for | Bronze sculptures Triumph of Labour Martyrs' Memorial Patna |
| Spouse | Charulata Roy Choudhury |
| Children | 1, Bhaskar Roy Choudhury |
| Awards | Padma Bhushan (1958) Fellow of Lalit Kala Akademi (1962) |
Devi Prasad Roy ChoudhuryMBE (15 June 1899 – 15 October 1975) was an Indian sculptor, painter and educator. He is well known for his monumentalbronze sculptures, especially theTriumph of Labour and theMartyrs' Memorial, and is rated by many as one among the major artists of Indian modern art.[1] He worked in a broad spectrum of mediums including watercolors, expressionist landscapes and commissioned portraits. Large scale sculptures were his particular strength and he madesocial realism the cornerstone of his art. In addition to painting and sculpting, he also wrestled, played the flute, engaged in hunting and wrote short stories in his spare time.[2][3]
He served as the principal ofMadras School of Art from 1929 to 1957 and became one of the first Indians to head a government educational institution at the time.[4] TheGovernment of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of thePadma Bhushan, in 1958, for his contributions in the field of arts.[5] He was elected as theFellow of Lalit Kala Akademi in 1962.[6]
Roy Choudhury was born on 15 June 1899 at Tejhat, inRangpur in the undivided Bengal of theBritish India (presently inBangladesh), and did his academic studies from home.[7] He took his first painting lessons under the guidance ofAbanindranath Tagore, the renowned Bengali painter.[8] He also received lessons about life-drawing and portraiture in western style from an Italian painter named Boeiss. This was followed by sculpture training under the guidance of Hiranmoy Roy Choudhury, who taught him tobuild in rather thancarve in his figures.[2]
Roy Choudhury’s interest of getting into art caused a rift between him and hiszamindar grandfather, the head of the family, who disinherited him. Subsequently, he had to take up work as a scene painter for a theatre in NorthKolkata and taught art at a boys' school in the city. He also taught for some time atSantiniketan whereRamkinkar Baij was one of his students.[4]
Roy Choudhury joined the Madras School of Art in 1929 as asuperintendent. He thus became one of the first Indians to head an educational institution that was run by the British. He accepted the post on the understanding that he should be permitted to take up private assignments.[9] During his thirty years at the school, he inspired several artists form South India. He helped spark creativity among the students who had produced only conventional work until that time. This entirely changed the existing image of the school as an industrial arts centre.[4] Subsequently, he was honoured by the British Government as anMBE in 1937 for his service.[10]
Despite being in charge of the school for almost three decades, Roy Choudhury was quite productive as an artist. He maintained two studios, one at his residence and the other at the school. He worked from early morning till late in the evening, mostly on large-scale sculptures. However, he did not hold any exhibition of his works during his lifetime, as he believed:
I consider my modest studio as a sort of old, sacred temple devoted to the cause of art. I worship the objects I create. I can never think of them being carried now and then for public view. Those who are real lovers of art are welcome to my studio. Don’t the devotees pay a visit to the dilapidated temple in a village?[2]
WhenLalit Kala Akademi was founded in 1954, he was appointed as the founder chairman.[11] He also served as president of theUNESCO Art Seminar conducted in 1955 at Tokyo and theNikhil Bharat Bangiya Sahitya Sammilani of 1956 organized in Chennai.[7] Along with his art, he was well known for hisBengali short stories published in the Bengali magazines of the time.[12]
When Roy Choudhury studied under the guidance of Tagore, he mainly created paintings in his master’s style and technique. Flowing lines in thewash technique with flat tones can be seen in his early works. The subjects in his works were mostly based on mythological themes. After his exposure to the western art techniques, he created artworks in the western academic style.[4] In the later part of his life, Choudhury was drawn towards the common man. He interacted with people of the poorer class and began drawing from life rather than from models. Moreover, he had also created a number of genre and landscape paintings. His other works include animal studies from his experiences during his hunting expeditions.[9]
Roy Choudhury experimented with different mediums such astempera,oil,watercolor andpastels. In the 1930s, western art critics regarded him as one of the finest portrait painters in the world for his works in the oil medium.[13] Some of the notable paintings the he created in Chennai areGreen and Gold (exhibited at theRoyal Academy of Arts, London),After the Storm (Japanese wash technique),Nirvana,Bridge,The Palace Doll,Durga Puja Procession,Abhisarika, andPujarini.[2]
Even though Roy Choudhury was a skilled painter, he is widely known for his public sculptures in theimpressionistic style.[14] His specialization was in casting the sculpture rather than carving it. He is reported to be influenced by the works of the French sculptor,Auguste Rodin.[15] During his early days in Kolkata, he made the busts ofSir J. C. Bose,Percy Brown and Mrs. Brown. While in Chennai, his high professional standards constantly brought him number of private and public commissions, notably the portrait busts of British nobility of the time. Among those who sat for their portraits or monumental statues were –C. V. Kumaraswami Sastri (Chief Justice, Madras High Court),Lord Erskine (Governor of Madras),G. T. Boag (Governor of Orissa),George Stanley (Governor of Madras),C. P. Ramaswami Iyer,C. R. Reddy andC. Abdul Hakim to name a few. Portraits created from photographs includedAnnie Besant,Asutosh Mukherjee,Surendranath Banerjee,Mahatma Gandhi andMotilal Nehru which were considered Roy Choudhury's monumental works.[2]
In his later sculptures, Roy Choudhury sought inspiration from his surroundings and social milieu, just like his paintings. One of his first multiple-figure reliefs was theTravancore Temple EntryProclamation that he completed in the 1930s. It depicted theTemple Entry Proclamation that allowed the admission of the so-calledlow caste people into the Hindu temples inTravancore. He also produced some moving images of theBengal famine of 1943, which showed a mother with her starving infant. Post India's independence in 1947, his grand sculptures and social commitment played an important role to memorialize the country's anti-colonial struggle.[9] His compositions, theTriumph of Labour (1954) and theMartyrs’ Memorial (1956) continue to be outstanding examples of his depictions of social realism in this regard.[8]
On 1 May 1923,Malayapuram Singaravelu founded theLabour Kisan Party of Hindustan in Madras which was committed to protect the interests and rights of the working classes. The foundation ceremony was held on the May Day for a purpose as it was for the first time in India that the day was observed asInternational Workers' Day under the auspices of the newly formed party.
Roy Choudhury’s sculpture is located at theMarina Beach, close to the site where Singaravelu organized the first Labour Day celebrations. It shows four figures engrossed in moving a heavy boulder, who appear to succeed in their task, thus signifying theTriumph of Labour. The sculpture highlights the intense hard work and effort put in by workers to shape India as it is today. A similar sculpture is also located outside theNational Gallery of Modern Art building in New Delhi.[16]
Located outside thePatna Secretariat, theMartyrs’ Memorial stands tall as the symbolic representation of the sacrifice that the Indians made to achieve independence. It is a life-sizedstatue of seven young men who sacrificed their lives in theQuit India Movement to hoist thenational flag on the Secretariat building.
Roy Choudhury showcases the determined attitude and the spontaneity of movement of each defiant figure which emphasizes the strength of the entire composition. This sculpture was commissioned after India’s Independence and was unveiled byRajendra Prasad in October 1956.[16]
A monumental sculpture titledGyarah Murti, based onDandi March has been erected along the road at the junction of Sardar Patel Marg and Teen Murti Marg inNew Delhi. The task of creating this sculpture was entrusted to Roy Choudhury by the then Prime Minister,Jawaharlal Nehru. This sculpture is 29 meters long on the surface and 4 meters high, made of a combination of 11 figures. It was installed in 1982 after the death of Devi Prasad Roy Choudhury. The image of this sculpture was also printed on the Indian currency note of 500 rupees.[17]
Some of his other important public sculptures include the statue ofMahatma Gandhi at Marina beach in Chennai,[18]God of Destruction (plaster of paris),Rhythm,After the Bath,The Last Stroke,Victims of Hunger (1952) andWhen Winter Comes (1955), all made in bronze.[19]
His works are displayed atGovernment Museum, Chennai, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi,Srichitralayam atJaganmohan Palace,Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad and Travancore Art Gallery,Kerala[1] and are featured in many books,Indian Masters, Volume I,[20]The Two Great Indian Artists[21] andArt and Aesthetics of Deviprasad being some of them.[22]
In 1958, the Government of India awarded him thePadma Bhushan, the third highest Indian civilian honour.[5] He received theLalit Kala Akademi Fellowship in 1962 and, six years later,Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, honoured him withD.Litt. in 1968.[7]
Roy Choudhury was a wealthy man owing to his success as an artist and reputation among the people of high society.[13] However, he largely remainedBohemian at heart and often said, “I can never be all manners and no man even to please my wife.” Roy Choudhury had married Charulata and had one son, Bhaskar – a folk dancer, actor, choreographer, author and painter.[23] Even though the couple was fond of each other, they had contrasting personalities. At times, Roy Choudhury's unconventional behaviour embarrassed Charulata who was a sophisticated woman and preferred a formal conduct.[24]
Roy Choudhury and his family lived in a two-storey house with the drawing room and the bedrooms located on the first floor. The former room was huge with a highly polished red floor. A fewPersian scatter rugs were spread on the floor and a couple of stuffed tiger heads shot by him lied there. On the off-white walls some of his popular paintings hung at eye-level. In one corner of the room stood one of his finest portrait sculptures titledBabuji – a head study of his father. A lowchowki covered with an attractive red and blueBokhara was kept under a window along the north wall of the room. On it rested a pair oftablas, atanpura and aharmonium. Roy Choudhury was an admirer ofHindustani classical music. Even though he wasn’t formally trained in music, his perception towards it had enabled him to enjoy even the most complex subtleties of theragas.[24]
Roy Choudhury knew a fair bit about wrestling as he had learnt it from a wrestler when he was young. On the request of his students at the Madras School of Art, he agreed to teach them wrestling. Anakhada (wrestling pit) was dug under the neem tree behind his studio at the school and he took care of all the expenses. Being a formidable wrestler, the students under his tutelage became more disciplined, learned some of the intricate details of the sport and its effectiveness toward achieving physical fitness.[25]
Roy Choudhury died on 15 October 1975 in Madras at the age of seventy-six.[26][27] He had his first solo exhibition inKolkata in 1993 which was followed by several exhibitions in India, including Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata;Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai; National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi and Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, among others.[28]
His sculpture, theTriumph of Labour featured on anIndian postage stamp to celebrate the 40th anniversary ofInternational Labour Organization in 1959.[29] TheMartyrs’ Memorial also appeared on the Indian postal stamp to commemorate thesilver jubilee of Quit India Movement in 1967.[30]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
