COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS

Enrolment Number :17AH.48

Year : B.F.A. 7th Semester
Project: Nirode Majumdar

___________________ ___________________
Signature of Class Teacher Signature of Principal
 Index
CONTENT
- ABOUT NIRODE MAJUMDAR (INTRODUCTION)
- CONTRIBUTIONS TO MODERN ART
- STYLE & RESEARCH OF PAINTING’S
- METHODS & MATERIALS (NIRODE MAZUMDAR)

COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS

 NIRODE
MAJUMDAR

(1916 - 1982)

COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS

About Nirode Majumdar
Introduction
Nirode Mazumdar was the younger brother of renowned
Bengali novelist Kamal Kumar Majumdar, their younger
sister ShanuLahiri(1928-2013) was also a noted painter and
art educator.
Nirode Mazumdar had his first education
under Kshitindranath Majumdar, student of Abanindranath
Tagore, at the Indian Society of Oriental Art in Calcutta. After
he finished his course Mazumdar was awarded the Norman
Blount Memorial Award for his artistic skill.
Along with the new generation of modernists such
as Pradosh Das Gupta, Rathin Maitra, and Paritosh Sen,
Nirode Mazumdar founded the Calcutta Group in 1943. His
first solo show in Calcutta was organised by the Calcutta
Group in 1944. On a French government scholarship, he
studied engraving in Paris at the academy of the French
artist Andre Lhote. In 1951, he participated in a group show
held at the India House in London, and worked for sometime
as the curator of the art gallery there. In 1955, Nirode
returned to Paris. He had a solo show at the Gallerie
Barbizon in Paris in 1957. He lived in Europe for ten years,
befriending many writers and artists such as Constantin
Brâncuși, Georges Braque, and Jean Genet.
Nirode Mazumdar returned to Calcutta in 1958. He painted
large canvasses, gradually moving towards Tantric themes in
his work, and often exploring a single concept over a series of

COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS

paintings. His work remained rooted in the pictorial tradition
of Bengal, which he harmonized with European modernism.[5]
He presently has some painting showed in Paris, Villa
Vassillieff, in a temporary and free exhibition, until 23
December 2017.

Contributions of Nirode Majumdar to

Modern Art (11 May 1916 – 26 September 1982)
Of the two members of the Group who actually visited
France for a direct encounterwith the French modernism,
Nirode Majumder(born 1916, and trained atthe Society of
Oriental Art) took an early trip to Paris with a French
scholarship in 1946 and worked in the studio of Andre Lohte.
This had an immediate impact on histheme and treatment. A
distinctly alien attenuation ofthe human form as well in
certain cases even a distinctly distinguishable physiognomic
type, gesture and posture characterizes his images(e.g.
“TwoWomen”, “Kiss”). In an undated publication the
Calcutta Group issued eight monochrome reproductions of
the artist’s paintings, which going by theirstyle, appearto
coincide with the painter's pre-Paris period. Ofthe eight
pictures reproduced in the albumtwo are definitely of an
early date corresponding to the years 1943-44, namely the
“Orphan” (which was also reproduced in the Bengal Painter’s
Testimony) and the picture of a seated man in a cross-legged
posture with his hand supporting his face in a gesture of

COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS

dejection or despair. There is a strong conformity in style
among all the pictures ofthe album. Apart from the two
pictures mentioned above, the rest exhibit a positive
affirmation towards life in general and consist of images of
couples seated together, mothers with their children, and
young women — all the images are marked by sumptuous
plenitude of voluptuous forms and an
undisturbed/untrammelled attitude towards life. In their use
ofthe thick bounding lines and the generally fluid flow ofthe
forms, as well as in their space-filling manner of composing
the central motif ofthe human forms, these pictures bear
closeness with the simplicity, directness and compositional
principles of folk art. On the other hand, the etching titled
“Two Women” not only deal with physiognomic types who
are distinguished by their features and appearances, the
composition differs to a large extent in conception, in the
placement ofthe nude female bodies againstthe backdrop of
an interior ofwhich the flower pot on the stool at the left
becomes a signifier of a refined and cultivated sophisticated
way of life. This is matched by the distinctly different quality
of the sharp thin line ofthe etching and the crosshatched
shading which replaced the continuous and uniform, two-
dimensional colourspaces ofthe former phase. The “Woman
with sitar” took yet another step away in the angularity of
the defining lines.

COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS

Method
The main method used by Nirode Mazumdar was the
technique of which pigments are bound together, and to
the canvas, by a drying oil; the oil, usually
linseed, is thinned with solvents such as turpentine and
mineral spirits; the pigments should dry in linseed oil to
form an acceptably strong paint film.And
alsowatercolour wash which defines as A wash is a
term for a visual arts technique resulting in a semi-
transparent layer of color. A wash of diluted ink or
watercolor paint applied in combination with drawing is
called pen and wash, wash drawing, or ink and wash.
Normally only one or two colours of wash are used; if
more colours are used the result is likely to be classified
as a full watercolor painting.In painting it is a technique
in which a paint brush that is very wet with solvent and
holds a small load of paint or ink is applied to a wet or
dry support such as paper or primed or raw canvas. The
result is a smooth and uniform area that ideally lacks the
appearance of brush strokes and is semi-transparent. In
East Asian traditions Ink and wash painting is a very
important technique, all applied with brushes, especially
for landscape painting.
A wash is accomplished by using a large amount of
solvent with little paint. Paint consists of
a pigment and binder which allows the pigment to
adhere to its support. Solvents dilute the binder, thus
diluting the binding strength of the paint. Washes can be
brittle and fragile paint films because of this. However,
when gum arabic watercolor washes are applied to a

COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS

highly absorbent surface, such as paper, the effects are
long lasting.

Materials
The wash technique can be achieved by doing the
following:
 With water-based media such as inks, acrylic
paints, tempera paints or watercolor paints, a wet
brush should be dipped into a pool of very wet and
diluted paint. This paint pool should be evenly mixed
and dispersed to prevent uneven pigment load on the
brush. The loaded brush should then be applied to a
dry or wet support. Washes are most often applied
with large brushes over large areas. The areas in
which a wash effects can be controlled with careful
application of the wash, and with the use of
liquid frisket or rubber cement.
 With oil-based media such as oil paint, a similar
technique as outlined above may be used, though
instead of water the paint pool should be well diluted
in solvent, such as turpentine or mineral spirits. The
loaded brush should be applied to a dry or solvent
soaked support. Because oil paint has a longer drying
time than water-based media, brushing over or
blending a wash can extend or even out the
appearance of the wash. American artists Jackson
Pollock, Mark Rothko, Morris Louis, Sam
Francis, Paul Jenkins, Helen Frankenthaler, Jules
Olitski, Friedel Dzubas, Ronnie Landfield and several
others are famous for creating washy, watercolor-like

COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS

 effects in oil and acrylic paintings in distinctive and
radical styles and versions of this method, and which
is sometimes called stain painting.

Style & Research of Painting’s

Oil on Canvas

COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS

Nirode Mazumdar Medium: Oil on canvas Year: Late
1950s

COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS

Nirode Mazumdar Medium: Oil on
canvas Year: Late 1950’s

COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS

Illustration

z-

One of the Modern Art illustration by

Nirode Mazumdar. The method used is Oil
on Canvas. The Powerful Lady by Nirode
Mazumdar.

COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS

Illustration

One of the Modern Art illustration by

Nirode Mazumdar. The method used is Oil
on Canvas. Godess Kali by Nirode
Mazumdar.

COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS

Illustration

One of the Modern Art illustration by

Nirode Mazumdar. The method used is Oil
on Canvas. GodessChinnamasta by
Nirode Mazumdar.

COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS

Illustration

One of the Modern Art illustration by

Nirode Mazumdar. The method used is Oil
on Canvas. Devi by Nirode Mazumdar.

COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS