Prokash Karmakar was born in 1933 and he learnt painting by his father. He joined the Government College of Art & Craft, Calcutta, but quit soon after for reasons of poverty. He then joined the army but absconded after two years, driven by his desire to paint. Under the guidance of Nirode Majumdar he mastered the artistic and philosophical concepts, techniques, coherence of lines and the breaking of form.
His art emerges from a contemplation of life, through the prism of personal traumatic experiences intermingled with dark moments in our recent history. His drawings speak of his sophisticated sensibility as well as his concern for the simple man His lines are firm & have all the plasticity & movement that one would expect from a master. In 1969-70, Karmakar visited France on a fellowship to study art museums, an inspiring exposure for the expressionist artist who, being ‘primarily a colourist’, began in the Seventies to create his figurative monochrome paintings.
In 1959 he had his first pavement show on Sudder Street on the railings of the Indian Museum,he became famous overnight. He won the 1968 Lalit Kala Akademi national award. His work is in the permanent collection of a number of museums and galleries throughout India, including the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi and he is the recipient of numerous awards.
He passed away in 2014.
