History News Desk !!! Asit Kumar Haldar (English: Asit Kumar Haldar, born – 10 September 1890; died – 13 February 1964) was an imaginative, emotional modern painter as well as a good litterateur, craftsman, art critic, philosopher, poet, thinker and a skilled art teacher and organizer with a friendly attitude.
Asit Kumar Haldar was born in a respectable family in the unique artistic environment of Tagore Bhawan in Jorasanko. At an early age, he developed a childlike curiosity by seeing the paintings of villagers. Later, he got special inspiration and encouragement to develop his artistic interests from his grandfather Rakhaldas, who was a Sanskrit professor at the University of London at that time. At the age of 15, Asit Kumar Haldar was admitted to the Government School of Art in Kolkata, where he got the company of talented students like Nandalal Bose, Surendranath Ganguly and Sharda Charan Ukil under the guidance of art guru Abanindranath, who had made painting the aim of their lives. At the same time, staying in the company of art thinkers like E.V. Havell and Dr. Anand Kumaraswamy, he observed the activities of revival of art and by following their footsteps, he emerged as the basic inspiration of the creative process in his later life.
In 1910, on the invitation of the English lady Lady Haringham, Asit Kumar Haldar along with Nandlal Basu were sent to prepare replicas of Ajanta. Thereafter in 1914, the Archaeological Department of the Government of India ordered you along with Samarendranath Gupta to paint copies of Jogimara caves in Ramgarh Pahari State in Madhya Pradesh. Again in 1917, Gwalior State invited Asit Kumar Haldar to examine the Bagh caves and in 1921, along with Nandlal Basu and Surendra Kar, he prepared copies of the paintings of the Bagh caves. Today, the copies of Ajanta painted by you are kept safe in the Indian Department of South Sington Museum, London, copies of Jogimara in the Department of the Government of India and copies of the paintings of Bagh caves in the Archaeological Museum of Gwalior.
Thus, Asit Kumar Haldar initially earned fame as a muralist. On the arrival of Emperor George V in Kolkata, he, along with Nandalal Basu and Vaikatappa, had put up large paintings (made using the same mural painting style and technique) for the tent erected to welcome him, in which the influence of Ajanta art was visible. Krishna’s Raasleela and the charm, devotion and ecstasy of the gop-gopis have been created. There is a very gentle expression in the paintings of Ashok Putra Kunal, Ram and the house, the moon and the lotus etc. The book ‘Indian Culture at a Glass’ written by Asit Kumar Haldar is completely based on Indian historical events. He translated the composition of Meghdoot and its Ritu-Samhar into Bengali and wrote many articles in Sanskrit.[1]
Asit Kumar made 30 paintings based on historical events, which were published by the Uttar Pradesh government. Precious gift is one of the paintings of ‘Khayalisa Songs’, in which the beggar woman gives her cloth to the old man and herself hides behind the sari out of shame. This picture is unknown. His paintings are a new turn in painting, in which the feelings of the heart are expressed in colours. Asit Kumar also worked on wood. This style was named Lecture. 14-15 paintings published in Lalit Kala Contemporary are in Lecture style. Apart from this, Akbar is a creator, Waterfall’s soul, Forest’s soul, Puja Kalakriti have his own drawings. Asit Kumar Haldar is not only a painter, but also a poet. His style of painting is lyrical, because a combination of poetry and art is found in it. In Gitanjali, Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, he made sketches along with poetry. In this way, the beauty and lyricism of art is visible in his art.
Asit Kumar Haldar not only became famous as a painter, he also received a lot of respect as a good art teacher. Due to his keen interest in art teaching, he returned from England in 1923 and taught at Rajasthan School of Arts, Jaipur and Lucknow School of Arts for many years. While serving as Principal in Lucknow, he also contributed significantly in the development of the said art school. Similarly, during his stay in Shantiniketan, he showed keen interest in the development of the art building there.
Along with painting, Asit Kumar Haldar also made statues of stone, bronze and wood. Influenced by the world fame of Rabindranath, Haldar made his statue, seeing which the poet Guru said, ‘This is the independent development of your soul that with your consciousness you have breathed life into the clay. With your devotion, you have filled the statue with a blazing light. Your dream has been embodied in the form of such a work of art, in which the form is mine, the joy is yours.’ Currently, one of his statues is also on display at the Allahabad Museum. Many excellent works of Asit Kumar Haldar are today preserved in private and public museums. His representative paintings are preserved in the ‘Haldar Bhavan’ of the Allahabad Municipal Museum, apart from this, his important works can also be seen in the Boston Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Indian Museum, Kolkata, Sri Chitralayam, Trivandrum and Ramaswamy Mudaliar Museum.
