AN ARTISTIC DUET
An exhibition in Santiniketan showcases the illustrations of Jatin Sen that brought the works of the great Bengali satirist Parashuram to life
Just as ‘Phiz’— Hablot Knight Browne—was to Charles Dickens and John Tenniel to Lewis Carroll, so was illustrator Jatindra Kumar Sen (18821966) to Rajshekhar Basu (1880-1960), the chemist, author and lexicographer, considered the sharpest humorist and satirist in Bengali literature. Both writer and illustrator had pseudonyms—Parashuram and Narad, respectively.
Like a laser beam, Basu’s wit vaporised window-dressing and exposed societal hypocrisy. He held to ridicule human follies at a time when society was changing radically, and middle-class Bengalis were coming out of their shell to confront their white masters. Women— rarely visible till then—were gradually becoming a formidable presence in public life, and that had an unsettling effect. Basu was unsparing in his attacks, and none escaped his jabs aimed alike at contemporary Bengali society, self-styled godmen, their followers and corrupt businessmen. He rewrote Hindu myths and gave a droll twist to tales derived from canonical texts.
The gallery of life-like characters that Basu’s words created became visible through Jatin
Sen’s confident lines. Sen thereby gave shape to an array of images and physical types that have become inextricably enmeshed with Basu’s writings. Sen’s iconic images of stick-thin wraiths of both genders that brought to life Basu’s masterpiece, ‘Bhushandir Mathe’ (published in the collection Gaddalika in 1924), have become part of Bengal’s collective memory. Little wonder both writer and artist won the praise of Rabindranath Tagore.
The artist’s original drawings can now be seen at the exhibition, Vision & Visuals: Jatindrakumar Sen’s Illustrations for Parashuram’s Stories,
being held at Arthshila, Syambati, Santiniketan, till October 19. It is curated by sculptor K.S. Radhakrishnan. Niyogi Books has published an eponymous book that documents the exhibition’s genesis. Radhakrishnan says, being from Kerala, he was not familiar with Jatin Sen’s drawings. However, the spooks caught his eye and he decided to organise an exhibition of the original drawings, when well-known collector, octogenarian Parimal Ray, showed them to him. Ray had discovered this cache of Sen’s original drawings and Basu’s manuscripts in 2013-14 at what was once the writer’s former home at Bakulbagan in Kolkata’s Bhowanipore area. The house was later occupied by Dipankar Basu, Rajshekhar’s great-grandson, who let Ray search for the original manuscript. Basu often made the primary sketches and Sen followed them. This is the first time the drawings are being exhibited along with captions in English and a summary of the relevant story.
Sen was born in Chandannagar but raised in Darbhanga, where his father worked for the maharaja. He was good at drawing and was trained at the Government Art School. He was a pioneering commercial artist and did many illustrations and logos. A great raconteur himself, Sen designed the logo of the film studio New Theatres and the first cover of Desh magazine. He helped draw the Bengali typefaces for Linotype machines. However, it was his collaboration with Parashuram that will keep Sen alive in our minds. ■