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Somnath Hore - Artists - Aicon Art 2024

SOMNATH HORE

Born 1921 in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
Died 2006 in Santiniketan, West Bengal.

Somnath Hore’s intense figurative practice spanned painting, drawing, printmaking, and sculpture. His oeuvre is united by themes of human suffering caused by war, famine, and other devastations emphasized by rough surfaces, slits, holes, and exposed channels. As a child growing up in Bangladesh, he was deeply affected by the violence of colonialism. The impact of the 1943 Bengal famine and the 1946 Tebhaga peasant movement is visible in the emaciated human forms and chaotic scenes of his art. Starting in 1974, Hore began producing bronze sculptures. One particular sculpture, Mother with Child, which paid homage to the people’s struggle in Vietnam, was stolen from the Kala Bhavana soon after completion and has yet to be found. 

Born 1921, Chittagong, Bangladesh.

Somnath Hore was born in a village called Barama in Chittagong, present day Bangladesh, in 1921. While he was still very young, he started making posters for the Communist party. It was with the help of the leader of this party that he was admitted into the Government College of Art & Craft.

Between the years 1954 to 1967, Hore handled a number of jobs in various capacities. From 1954 to 1958 he was a lecturer at the Indian College of Art and Draftsmanship in Kolkata. Thereafter, until 1967, he held posts such as the "in-charge of the Graphic section" at the Delhi College of Art, visiting faculty at the MS University in Baroda and the head of the Graphic Art department of Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharati. In 1960, he became a member of the Society of Contemporary Artists.

From 1974, Hore began to produce his bronze sculptures. "Mother with Child", a large sculpture that paid homage to the people's struggle in Vietnam, was stolen from the Kala Bhavan soon after it was completed and still has yet to be found.

The anguished human form has widely been reflected in Hore's figuration. The visual appeal of his work is increased by rough surfaces, slits, holes and exposed channels.

Died 2006, Santiniketan, West Bengal.

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