Chitrakar

What happens when a passage from the world of light to the world of darkness opens onto a new chapter of life? A retrospective account of a pioneering Indian artist who continued to paint after losing his eyesight.

Benode Behari Mukherjee (1904-1980) was one of the most influential and highly regarded artists in the history of modern Indian art. Chitrakar brings together four broadly autobiographical pieces written by Benode Behari after he lost his eyesight in the summer of 1957.

The Artist is a selective reminiscence recapturing various pictures from the years of his childhood, apprenticeship, and maturity, up to the time he became blind. Master of the Household is a candid and complex fictionalised account of his struggle to come to terms with his blindness and continue making art. The Creator is a simple, but telling, parable about the vanity of inordinate ambition. Finally, Art Quest outlines his philosophy of art and the basic elements of his work.

In the sensitive and empathetic hands of K. G. Subramanyan, once his student and later himself a major figure in the Indian art scene, this translation, appearing for the first time in English, is a precious and timeless document.