[Assam] Website on HEMANTA MISRA.

[Buljit Buragohain]

Website on HEMANTA MISRA:

http://www.hemantamisra.org/


HEMANTA MISRA: (1917-2009)
Hemanta Misra  was born in Sivasagar, Assam,  on the 13th of 
October, 1917.  His father was Pandit Gauridutta Misra  Vidyabhusan and 
his mother was Girija Devi. Hemanta Misra had his school  education in 
Sivasagar and Guwahati  and  later studied in Cotton   College and  St 
Edmund’s, Shillong. He was married to Bina  Misra, a teacher and  
writer.   Primarily a  self-taught artist, Hemanta Misra during his college 
days took a correspondence  course in art from the well known British 
artist,  John Hassall, R.I. of England. The  rather strict  academic 
methods of the  British School gave Misra the proper foundation in 
drawing and  sketching,--something which came to great use later on when he emerged as a  pioneer of surrealism in the country. The first phase 
of his artistic career  was taken up in producing brilliant landscapes 
and sketches where he displayed  his mastery over form and colour.  It 
was  in the early fifties that Hemanta Misra held his first solo 
exhibition in  Kolkata and, on the strength of his drawings alone, was 
elected in 1953  a member of the  prestigious   Calcutta Group of 
Painters which was responsible for breaking away from  the Bengal School and  ushering in the era of modernism in Indian  art. Misra’s second 
period  was marked by  experimentations in cubism which  had a  strange 
mystic touch. From a largely cubist style handled in a mystic manner,  
Hemanta Misra soon moved into the domain of surrealism where he proved 
himself  to be a virtual master by developing a new vocabulary of his 
own. . Critics  have commented on the unique nature of his surrealism 
where the dream world of  the absurd finds expression through a subtle 
blend  of   mysticism and poetry. Misra’s application of colours in his 
surrealistic  paintings has attracted a lot of critical acclaim because 
his  colours   seem to effortlessly merge into the atmosphere without 
crying for their  separate existence of their own. It has been commented that the  abstracted harmony of colour juxtaposed into  the inner 
content of a mystic message give a   completely distinct character into 
his paintings. It has been said that  Hemanta Misra’s surrealism has an 
inherent Indianness in it because of its  treatment of colour, its tonal variations, style of delineation and the nature  of  its images.   
Hemanta   Misra’s contribution towards placing Assam on the art map of 
the  country  has been an immense one. Hemanta  Misra was also a poet 
and writer. Amongst his publications are: Bharatiya Chitrakala ( in Assamese,  1978), Rupar Antarat Roop (a book of  poems in Assamese with the artist’s own drawings , 1990), Dikhow Luit Aru Sagar( an autobiographical work in Assamese ).  The  celebrated artist  passed away in Guwahati on the 31st of December, 2009.
 
Contact Hemanta Misra's Trust :

Hemanta Misra Trust
House no. 3, By-lane no 3
Narikalbari, Mother Teresa Road
Guwahati-781024, Assam, India
9435002717 / 9864331329 (M)
0361-2411062 (O)
e-mail: hm_trust at rediffmail.com
web: www.hemantamisra.org

News from Amar Asom (04.01.2012)
http://amarasom.glpublications.in/Details.aspx?id=7646&boxid=105749484