Page 63 - Eye of the beholder

In his independent creations, his sculptures reflected socialist subjects as the ‘Triumph of Labour’ and Martyr’s Memorial. Cast in bronze, the style shows the influence of French sculptor Auguste Rodin and deals with the theme of man’s struggle for existence. The rough unfinished surfaces, creating rich textures and an animated play of light and shade, reflect the influence of Rodin. The poses are exaggerated for dramatic effects and are highly theatrical. He retired as principal in 1957 after serving for 28 years – the longest tenure in the history of art schools in India.
Roy Chowdhury’s work in dry brush oil technique has the delineation of the female nude form rendered with patchy brush strokes was as evocative as it was provocative. A concealed note of romance manifested his work as the protagonist face is concealed n darkness with her face turned to one side. Roy Chowdhury’s excellence in manipulating various mediums was the high point of his painting career. A melancholic mood pervades his works, residue of sentimentalism of the Bengal school continued to haunt his works. But he infused it with expressive power through his distortions and accentuation of forms.
The work in the Sadhu’s collection is an “Untitled” representation of a nude woman in profile. It is executed in the dry brush technique of pen and ink with judicious brush strokes that gestalt in certain parts to form the compositional whole. The extreme contrast of light and dark imparts a strong realistic quality. Equally also is the manipulation of positive and negative spaces that gives the work an oriental feel.
His versatility in controlling the element of line in a painterly way with its nuances of flowing graceful rhythm, soft construction of the human form and the conscious dry ink brush strokes is voyeuristic through the nude female form. His youthful women reflected the paradigm as canonized in Indian poetry and aesthetics. Within the history of art, the female nude was not simply one subject among others, one form among many; it was the subject, the form. The female nude was the sign of those other, more hidden properties of patriarchal culture, which were possession, power and subordination. Moreover representations of the female nude created by male artists testify not only to patriarchal understandings of female sexuality and feminity, but they also endorsed certain definitions of male sexuality and masculinity. The focus is on her body as the face has been sans any features. Roy Chowdhary’s oeuvre has limited works of the female nude.
SELECT REFERENCE:
Ashrafi S. Bhagat, “A Critical Study of Modernity in the Art of South India with particular Reference to Madras School:1960s and 70s”, published Ph.D. Thesis, DAG Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, 2019
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