Shanu Lahiri (Indian 1928 - 1913),
Two studies of heads;
Ink on paper card, both signed and...

Shanu Lahiri (Indian 1928 - 1913),

Two studies of heads;

Ink on paper card, both signed and dated lower right; 

one inscribed to inside, "Niladri & Ranu + daughters / Wish you a very happy New Year / Shanu Dodo / 470/2 Laketown B Cal 89"

and the other to reverse "Ranu (...) and family - wishing you a happy and prosperous New Year / Shanu - Dodo"

17.4 x 12.7cm; 16.2 x 10.5cm 

(2)

Provenance: The Private Collection of Niladri and Ranu Chaki

Note: Shanu Lahiri was born in 1928 in Calcutta (now Kolkata) into one of Calcutta's most prominent artistic families, the Mazumdar family, one seven siblings. Her mother, Renukamoyee Mazumdar, though illiterate, practiced calligraphy at night. Lahiri had two older brothers, the noted litterateur and writer Kamal Kumar Majumdar and the artist Nirode Mazumdar, one of the pioneers of 20th century modernism, now largely forgotten, and a founder member of The Calcutta Group. 

She studied at the Government College of Art & Craft in Calcutta graduating in 1951. She was first student of the college to receive the AIFACS President's gold medal for her outstanding contributions in art while being an undergraduate. In 1955 she held a solo exhibition at the AIFACS gallery, exhibiting alongside V. S. Gaitonde and H.A. Gade.

In 1956 she received a French Government Scholarship, which enabled her to study in Paris for a period of two years between 1956 and 1958. She studied at the Ecole du Louvre and the Academie Julian. This international exposure enabled her to break free from the strictures of Academic training and the lingering stereotype of 'Indian-style' painting that prevailed amongst most Indian artists.

Lahiri paved the way in forming a voice for Indian female artists. Following the formation of the "Calcutta Group" in 1943, a tendency to get organised in groups emerged among artists in different pockets of India. In 1944 the "Progressive Painters Association" was formed under the guidance of K.C.S. Paniker in Madras, the Progressive Artists' Group came into being in Bombay in 1947 and the "Delhi Shilpi Chakra" was established in 1949. However, women were often excluded from these men's clubs. In 1983, Calcutta and to an extent, the country witnessed the mobilization of the first group of women artists: "The Group" as they called themselves, consisted of five members -Shanu Lahiri, Karuna Shaha,, Meera Mukherjee, Santosh Rohatgi and Shyamasree Basu. Such an organization of women easily became the target of much implicit scorn and condescension in contemporary art circles. The artists, however remained resolute, most clear-cut and unequivocal about the necessity for such a forum of women artists. 

While she was part of the first generation of women to enter Indian art schools in the 1940s - a period marked by women's increasing presence in the public artistic sphere - she has often been excluded from the established national canon of Indian modern art.