Suhas Roy - Christ
Dry Pastel on Paper
13 x 12 inches
This intimate portrait presents a softly emerging male visage rendered in muted, earthy tones, where light and shadow gently model the face into near dissolution. The subject appears in quiet profile, her contemplative eye becoming the emotional anchor of the composition, while the surrounding forms dissolve into a textured haze. The grainy surface and subdued palette lend the work a dreamlike, almost archaic quality, suggesting memory rather than direct observation. The artist’s restrained handling avoids sharp outlines, allowing the figure to surface gradually from the background, evoking introspection, silence, and inner depth. Overall, the painting conveys a sense of poetic stillness, where the human presence feels fragile, introspective, and deeply psychological.
Style : He is one of the biggest and the most enduring names in the genre of Indian modern art. Often dubbed the father of female figurative forms. Radha Series and the Christ Series in soft pastel on paper and intense Oil on canvas paintings .Consequently, his recent body of works, "Drops of Silence", executed in oil, pastels and pen-and-ink etchings on backdrops in watercolours, are all studies of "mysterious slightly surreal nude women floating in a void". Roy's forte is Radhika - dark, enigmatic, beautiful Indian women with the slightest smile and ethereal in its quality .
About the Artist & his work :
Born : 1936, Bangladesh.
Education :
1953-58 : Diploma in Painting, Indian College of Art and Draughtsmanship, Calcutta.
1956-66 : Studied graphic art under the guidance of S.W. Hayter, Atelier 17 and mural art at cole Superior Des Beaux Art, Paris.
Exhibitions :
His works have been exhibited all over the world through exhibitions like the Asian Graphic Prints Traveling Exhibition, USA, the Tokyo Print Biennale, Japan, Contemporary Indian Art, Yugoslavia, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Hungry, and Wounds, at the Central Institute Modern Art, New Delhi, and the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.
Honours and Awards :
• 1986 : Certificate of Merit, Symphony, Hoshiarpur
• 1973 : Certificates of Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata
• 1970 : West Bengal Academy of Drama and Fine Arts, Kolkata
• 1969 : All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi .
• 1968 : 1st All India Graphic Exhibition by Group 8
• 1957-58 : Annual Exhibition, Indian College of Arts and Draughtsman ship, Kolkata.