Dinkar Kowshik (1918-2011) was an influential Indian painter and educator. As principal of

Kala Bhavana Kala Bhavana (Institute of Fine Arts) is the fine arts faculty of Visva-Bharati University, in Shantiniketan, India. It is an institution of education and research in visual arts, founded in 1919, it was established by Nobel laureate Rabindra ...

Santiniketan Shantiniketan (IPA: Help:IPA/Bengali, �antiniketɔn is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendra ...

, he reshaped it for contemporary art practices. Born in Dharawad, Karnataka, in 1918, he was involved in the Quit India Movement during his student days and had been arrested several times. He was a student of Kala Bhavana between 1940 and 1946. His career began at Delhi Polytechnic and later became the principal of

Lucknow College of Arts and Crafts Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lucknow, also known as the Lucknow College of Arts and Crafts (LCAC) or Government College of Arts and Crafts (GCAC) or simply the College of Arts and Crafts (CAC), was founded in 1911. It is part of Universit ...

. Thereafter, he returned to Kala Bhavana first as a professor and later as its principal. He retired in 1978 and settled down in Santiniketan. At Santiniketan, the ideas of

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

on art and teaching continued for a long time as a monumental model. Subsequently, there developed in the art arena of Santikietan the three pillars of ideas –

Nandalal Bose Nandalal Bose (3 December 1882 – 16 April 1966) was one of the pioneers of modern Indian art and a key figure of Santiniketan: The Making of a Contextual Modernism, Contextual Modernism. A pupil of Abanindranath Tagore, Bose was known for his ...

Benode Behari Mukherjee Benode Behari Mukherjee (7 February 1904 – 11 November 1980) was an Indian artist from West Bengal state. Mukherjee was one of the pioneers of Indian modern art and a key figure of Contextual Modernism. He was one of the earliest artists in ...

and

Ramkinkar Baij Ramkinkar Baij ( (25 May 1906 – 2 August 1980) was an Indian sculpture, sculptor and painter, one of the pioneers of modern Indian sculpture and a key figure of Contextual Modernism. Early life and career Baij was born in an economic ...

. They together raised Santiniketan to a level of unique eminence in the field of modern art in pre-independence India. In the post-independence period, the revivalist idiom of the Bengal School of Art was discarded and a new momentum was visible in the works of many artists. Dinkar Kowshik was a prominent name in the star-studded group. Protest is the very core of the modern vision in contemporary art. Amongst the other prominent names associated with the art arena at Santiniketan in the post-independence era are K.G. Subramanyan and

Somnath Hore Somnath Hore (1921-2006) was an Indian sculptor and printmaker. His sketches, sculptures and prints were a reaction to major historical crises and events of 20th century Bengal, such as the Bengal Famine of 1943 and the Tebhaga movement. He w ...

. As principal of Kala Bhavana, Dinkar Kowshik reshaped it for contemporary art practices. He invited sculptor Sarbari Roy Choudhury, Ajit Chakraborty, graphic artist Somnath Hore and painters Sanat Kar and Lalu Prasad Shaw to join Kala Bhavana as teachers. Amongst the many things he did to revolutionise the institution was to hold ''Nandan Mela''.''Nandan Mela'' celebrates the birth anniversary of Nandalal Bose. "The students involve in various kinds of activities including art stalls put up by the Painting, Sculpture, Ceramics, Graphics, Design and Art History Departments. These stalls have artworks made by the students and teachers ranging from calendars to craft items, diaries, stationery, fashion jewellery, paintings, prints, saras (clay plates), and ceramics, wood and metal sculptures for sale at affordable prices." Dinkar Kowshik passed away in Santiniketan on 13 February 2011, leaving behind his wife, Pushpa, two sons, and a daughter.

References

Visva-Bharati University alumni Academic staff of Visva-Bharati University 1918 births 2011 deaths Indian painters {{India-painter-stub