Drawings – Gopal Ghose

Gopal Ghose (1913–1980) was one of the founding members of the first artist collective in India, the Calcutta Group. Known for his experimentation in modernist Indian art, Ghose received critical acclaim from both national and international contemporaries over the course of his career. 

Ghose’s works incorporated elements of international art movements, a departure from the existing Bengal School of Art and its preoccupation with a Revivalist agenda. His works in the 1940s catalogued the devastating Bengal Famine and the riots, while earlier pieces showed a fascination for landscapes and the natural world. 

Adept in the mediums of watercolour, tempera, pen and ink, and brush and pastel, Ghose’s studies in ink of the human form—the female form crouching, reclining or leaning against a wall—is indicative of his foundational training as a sculptor. He was intent upon the purity of his artistic expression and the attempt to capture and represent these in his works.