The stories and silence in artist Amitabh Sengupta’s masterpieces at Delhi’s Bikaner House

Experience Amitabh Sengupta's captivating canvases at Odyssey, blending European modernism with Indian influences in a solo show at Bikaner House Delhi.

Inside one of the smaller halls in Bikaner House, the sheer magic of a master’s pliant brush fills you up with awe. The fascinating palette of Amitabh Sengupta’s select canvases at Odyssey, his solo show, offer a spectrum of interpretations as they compel every viewer to pause and reflect on the artist’s exploration of form, texture and emotion.

His works transcend borders, drawing from his experiences in Paris, Nigeria and the United States and yet retain a distinct and deeply personal identity. For, he seamlessly blends European modernism with Indian cross-cultural experiences, given his deep-rooted interest in antiquity, rock paintings, Nature’s wonders and hieroglyphics.

On display are 30 carefully chosen works, done between 1995 and 2023, that highlight key moments of movement, memory and transformation in his creative sojourn that began with his education at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1966 to 1969.

“Whether layered abstractions, lyrical compositions, or nuanced colour palettes, his paintings take you into a world of quiet introspection and timeless beauty,” says Sarala Banerjee of Artworld Chennai, who discovered the artist years ago. Emphasising upon his mastery over diverse mediums, she says, it is his tensile and tactile understanding and his touch that elevate his paintings to a different level of imagination.

The artist’s wonderful understanding of different parameters of art history and realism can be seen in the striking canvases and the Banadevta and Banadevi in particular, created in 2020 and 2021 respectively. He couples impressionist idioms with the mythic god and goddess of the forest. With a hint of twilight colours, he brings alive the tribal traditions and weaves abstract into the divine like figures. He also adds inscriptions, alphabetical notes and scripts in his composition.

“The forest and its many spirits, its legend and the communities that worship become the mapping. The mythic essence of the figures is emblematic of the artist’s ability to merge tradition with modernity,” says art historian and critic Uma Nair. “You see both intellect and aesthete of a rare order in his works; it embodies a balance between stunning figurative studies and abstract art. Then there is also a beauty and power of ancient scripts in his textured terrains,” she adds.

Fresh from his retrospective at the Birla Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, Amitabh’s love for literature and Nature are evident in all his acrylics and oils as he paints an imposing Egyptian lady or a beautiful pair of peacocks.