Somnath Hore
(b.1921-2006)
Somnath Hore chose a distinctly formal, western style of art making, distinguished by its strong linear quality and guided by humanist concerns as much as the need to depict the catastrophe-enduring figure. The 1943 Bengal famine and 1946 Tebhaga peasant uprising marked Hore, reappearing constantly in his works, especially in the woodcuts. Distilled into iconic heads and emaciated bodies, his act of recovering the erased, re-inscribing them into public memory, with the anguished human form widely reflected in Hore’s figuration. The appeal of his bold, minimal strokes is increased by the rough surfaces, slits and holes. Hore’s early sketches were published in ‘Janayuddha’ and ‘People’s War’, Communist Party publications. Hore later simplified his drawings, particularly human figures, shedding details to develop a distinctive style characterised by contorted and suffering figures, skillfully rendered through masterful line work.
Somnath Hore studied briefly at the Government College of Art, Calcutta during the mid-1940s where he trained under artist Zainul Abedin, and later, printmaker Saifuddin Ahmed. In a thirty-year teaching career, he set up the printmaking department of the Delhi Polytechnic of Art and nurtured students at Kala Bhavana. Some of his selected posthumously organised exhibitions include India Art Fair with LATITUDE 28, New Delhi (2024); Art Mumbai with LATITUDE 28, Mumbai (2023); ‘The Print: Matter in Matrix’, LATITUDE 28 at Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi (2020); ‘Tea Garden Journal and other works’, Kerala Lalithakala Akademi and The Seagull Foundation for the Arts at Durbar Hall Art Centre, Ernakulam (2017); ‘Abby Grey and Indian Modernism: Selections from the NYU Art Collection’, Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York (2015); ‘Hunger’, Seagull Foundation for the Arts, Kolkata, (2013); ‘Crossings: Time Unfolded, Part 2’, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), New Delhi (2012). He has received awards like the Lalit Kala Ratna Puraskar, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi (2004); Gagan-Abani Award, Kolkata (1984) and Professor Emeritus, Santiniketan (1984).
