The period starting from 1957-58 and continuing through the 1970s is acknowledged as the most vibrant period of the previous century as far as Assam’s art scene is concerned. It saw the emergence of a good number of artists with the right ingredients required to embark on a meaningful artistic journey. Most of them took up art education in reputed institutions like Santiniketan, JJ School of Art and others, and some of them were self-taught. The foundation of modern art, strengthened in Assam by the likes of Tarun Duvarah, Asudev and Hemanta Misra in the middle of the 20th century, gained consolidation during the later period, as most of the artists of this time were, on one hand, driven by an urge to break free from the pull of the Renaissance art or British realism, and on the other enriched by the expanding horizons in art of the time.

The artists who arrived in the scene during this period included Madhav Baishya, Ramesh Ghosh, Hemangini Bordoloi, Prasenjit Duara, Pranab Barua, Madan Mohan Lahkar, Sobha Brahma, Benu Misra, Neelpawan Baruah, Kandarpa Sarma, Gauri Barman, Pulak Gogoi and a few others.

Sobha Brahma, charting out a highly individualistic course after his stint at Santiniketan, played a decisive role in consolidating the foundation of modern art in Assam. His oeuvre is in essence a confluence of myriad elements of modern Indian art, Western movements and folk and tribal forms. The ethnic, almost primitive nature of his robust human, deity, animal forms and rotund trees, the elements flowing from Indian and Western traditions and the forces working at the conceptual level create a fine synthesis, taking his work to a sublime level.

The role of Benu Misra in the development of modern art in Assam is also highly significant. Like his contemporaries, his art is also a meeting point of some stylistic and idiomatic streams of the larger Indian artistic tradition and symbolist-expressionist movements of the 20th century. Elements of folk culture also find a well-integrated place in his works. Misra had given the art of book-cover design a whole new meaning and depth in Assam and devoted much of his lifetime in this endeavour. His illustrations and sketches as well as the sculptures found in different places of Assam are legendary. Misra also played a great role in founding the Gauhati Artists’ Guild in 1976.

Neelpawan Baruah’s world of art is one of great multiplicity where myriad styles, techniques, experimentations, concepts and tendencies get integrated as the artist oscillates between disparate forces – traditional and modern, Indian and indigenous, simplistic and intricate, childlike and philosophical. The diverse elements, processed through the conscious and the unconscious, converge in his work in artistic unison. While the blend of tradition and modernity is apparent, Baruah’s style of working is akin to psychic automatism as he relies on spontaneity during a creative process. Baruah, along with a few others, established the Assam Fine Arts and Crafts Society in 1971, giving a huge boost to the progress of modern art in Assam.

Some of these artists are no longer amongst us today. Madhab Baishya was a master of his craft, as he carried forward the legacy of the Oriental style with aplomb with his powerful drawing skills and mastery over traditional techniques like tempera and wash-painting. A product of Santiniketan, Baishya spent most of his lifetime in Jorhat, where he worked. He was also the founder president of the Jorhat Fine Arts Society. His oeuvre comprised monumental works based on anecdotes from Indian mythology, as well as Vaishnavite culture of Assam, and they remind us of the paintings of old scriptures. The influence of the Bengal school was prominent in his work. Though as an artist he refused to go beyond the realm of mythology and Satriya culture, he did bloom where he was planted.

Late Pranab Barua secures an important place in the domain of art in Assam. Who can forget those elongated forms of frail village belles that wore a desolate look with melancholic facial expressions? Paucity of colours, stylized figures emerging from flat surfaces, and masterful use of space were some of the prominent traits of his work. By establishing the Kallol Gosthi, Late Barua, an alumnus of JJ School of Art, created an artistic environ hitherto missing in Nagaon and inspired a whole new generation of young artists there.

Gauri Barman is another prominent artist in whose works we see a judicious synthesis of the Western styles and themes taken from local sources, especially Satriya culture, with a discernible leaning towards Cubism. The self-taught artist is one of the torchbearers of this period who explored the conceptual and idiomatic possibilities of early 20th century movements but successfully blended them with the local art forms to produce works that radiate the air of originality.

The paintings of Pulak Gogoi, whose style does remind us of Husain at first glance, also possess a synthesis of tradition, modernity and folk elements of Assam like many of his contemporaries. His works on bhakti are of special importance. An alumnus of JJ School of Art, Gogoi’s expertise as a cartoonist is also noteworthy: he served The Assam Tribune as a commercial artist in the Sixties.

The prominent among those who embraced Abstract Art and carried forward the tradition in Assam were Late Prasenjit Duara and Kandarpa Sarma. Influenced by abstract masters like Kandinsky and Klee and especially their focus on the musicality of colours and lines, the works of these two artists helped them secure an important place in the artistic mosaic of Assam.

d.bezbarua@yahoo.co.in

Debashish Bezbaruah