Prodosh Das Gupta

V.K.Jain, Prodosh Das Gupta: Sculptures & Drawings, Kumar Gallery P. Ltd., New Delhi, 2008, illustration cover and p. 39

There are scattered minor accretions throughout the work, as viewed.
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Prodosh Das Gupta was the only sculptor among the five members of The Calcutta Group. Created in 1943, this group predated the famed Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group and included among its founding members Paritosh Sen, Gopal Ghose, Nirode Mazumdar and Zainul Abedin. The Calcutta Group based its field of inquiry on the nature of form and method, overshadowing the then popular preoccupation with subject matter. Das Gupta searched for a sculptural form that would express contemporary ideas while preserving prana- the inherent life force of traditional Indian sculpture, a term coined by Dr. Stella Kramrisch. 

Distinguished critic, Aruna Bhowmick, notes that this sculpture is an exemplary prototypical example of Das Gupta’s usual technique of weighing down the base. “As the eye moves up the forms lighten and open up, with a tendency of getting animated by the sheer moderation and force of lines. The seated figure, slim hip upwards, becomes surprisingly heavy and rotund at the thighs, the right hip resting on the heel and the left leg folded up at the knee, giving it a half-kneeling position. The smallness of the head serves to rivet our gaze, pulling it upwards, like a pinnacle, rendering the form stately, its simple smooth lines chastening the form, infusing it with the air of an ascetic.” (A. Bhowmick, 'An Artist of the Indian Renaissance', Prodosh Das Gupta - Sculptures & Drawings, edited by V.K. Jain, Kumar Gallery, New Delhi, 2008, p. 28-29) This larger scaled work bears all characteristics of a quintessential Das Gupta sculpture with its emphasis on fluid rhythm, lean sparseness and use of cylindrical and ovoid forms.