Painter Atul Bose was born on this day in Mymensingh, East Bengal. His landscapes, portraits and village scenery are remarkable for their vivid lines, their realism and delicateness.
He studied at the Government Art School in Calcutta and went on to study at the Royal Academy of Arts in London (1924-26), where he was influenced by the post-impressionist artist Walter Sickert.
He had mastered the academic style and painted portraits of well-known personalities, such as Rabindranath Tagore, Ashutosh Mukherjee, Queen Mary and Edward VII, which look like psychological studies.
Bose painted portraits from the original collections at the Windsor Castle and the Buckingham Palace commissioned by the Indian government. One of his best-known works is Sphinx. He painted a series on the Bengal famine.
He taught for some time at the Government Art School in Calcutta.
Partha Mitter considers Bose’s contribution towards the founding of the Academy of Fine Arts in Calcutta a lasting achievement.