The magic of his lines falls silent: Jogen Chowdhury, one of modern Indian Art’s finest artists, dies at 87

Jogen Chowdhury, one of the leading figures in modern Bengali art, died at a private hospital in Kolkata on the morning of Sunday, 25 October 2026. He was 87. He had been suffering from blood cancer for a long time. More recently, on the day of Maha Shashthi during Durga Puja, he was diagnosed with a serious urinary tract infection. As his condition deteriorated, he was placed on ventilator support on Saturday. However, he could not be saved.

Born in 1939 in the village of Daharpara in the Faridpur district of undivided Bengal, Jogen Chowdhury grew up in a family with a deep appreciation for art and mythology. His father, Pramathanath Chowdhury, was a zamindar with a keen interest in both, while his mother, Indudevi, was skilled in alpana, the traditional Bengali art of decorative floor painting. This artistic environment laid the foundation for his creative sensibilities.

Before Partition in 1947, Chowdhury moved to Kolkata with his father. In the 1950s, his family settled permanently in Shahidnagar Colony in Dhakuria. Despite their zamindari background, the family faced extreme poverty in the aftermath of Partition. They studied and painted by the light of kerosene lamps. As a teenager, Chowdhury would visit Sealdah railway station to sketch refugees. The hardships of those years and the suffering he witnessed among ordinary people left a lasting impression on his art.

Chowdhury enrolled at the Government College of Art and Craft in Kolkata in 1955 and graduated in 1960. After working as a teacher at Howrah District School for a short period, he joined the Handloom Board as a designer. In the 1960s, he travelled to Paris on a French government scholarship and studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts. In 1966, he received the Prix de la Jeune Peinture. After returning from Paris, he worked at the Weavers’ Service Centre in Madras, now Chennai. It was during this period that his distinctive style, marked by expressive lines and cross-hatching, fully developed.

In 1972, Chowdhury joined the Rashtrapati Bhavan Art Gallery in New Delhi as its curator, a position he held for 15 years. In 1987, he joined Kala Bhavana at Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan as a professor of painting. Alongside his work as an artist and teacher, he was also involved in politics. He served as a Rajya Sabha MP representing the Trinamool Congress from 2014 to 2020. In 2019, he established Charubasna: Jogen Chowdhury Centre for Arts in Kolkata.

Chowdhury developed a distinctive artistic style that set him apart from his contemporaries. Often described as the ‘Master of the Unbroken Line’, he was particularly known for his work in ink, pastel and watercolour. His art frequently featured human figures drawn through flowing lines, with cross-hatching used to create depth, light and shadow. Through these techniques, he explored loneliness, the complexities of human relationships and psychological distress.

Among his notable works are Tiger in the Moonlight and the Abu Ghraib series, which reflect his ability to communicate complex emotions and human experiences through his distinctive visual language.

Over the course of his career, Chowdhury received several honours in recognition of his contribution to art. These included French honours, the Kalidas Samman awarded by the Madhya Pradesh government, and the Banga Bibhushan, one of West Bengal’s highest civilian awards.

Through his distinctive lines, Chowdhury gave expression to human loneliness, complicated relationships, the struggles of ordinary people and the intricacies of the human mind. His unique approach to modern art, which earned him the description ‘Master of the Unbroken Line’, will remain an enduring part of the history of Indian painting. His legacy will live on through the works he leaves behind and the generations of artists influenced by his vision.