Kolkata: Distinguished painter and former TMC MP Jogen Chowdhury died in a private hospital in Kolkata on Sunday morning following a sustained battle with a rare blood cancer. The 87-year-old was one of India’s most celebrated figurative expressionists.
A rare blood cancer, myeloproliferative neoplasm, made him undergo 14 months of chemotherapy, said Ruby General Hospital in a statement given to PTI.
He was admitted to the hospital recently on October 16 and breathed his last at 10.18 am, as per the hospital reports.
Expressing condolences, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari described Chowdhury as an artist of great stature and said his body of work was an asset to the state and the whole nation. "Chowdhury's rich contributions are evident in numerous government buildings, including Rashtrapati Bhavan. The works he left behind will remain for centuries," Adhikari said.
Drawing inspiration from mother’s ‘Alpana’ art
Chowdhury was born on February 16, 1939, in Daharpara village in Faridpur, now in Bangladesh. As a child, he was attracted to art after observing his mother, who was skilled in an art form, ‘alpana’, a traditional floor and wall art.
During the partition, his family moved to Kolkata. He graduated from Government College of Arts and Craft in Kolkata and later finished higher studies at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. After completing his formal art training, he started his career as an art teacher at Howrah Zilla School before joining the Handloom Board as a designer in 1962.
Chowdhury stood apart for his unique visual language, which developed after drawing inspiration from political and social themes along with Indian and European art developments.
Jogen Chowdhury was elected to the Rajya Sabha on a Trinamool Congress banner and served from April 2014 to April 2020. In 2012, he received ‘Banga Bibhushan ', one of the state’s highest civilian awards, from the previous TMC government.
(With agency inputs from PTI and ANI)
