HAREN DAS

Better known as Haren Das, was a highly respected artist in India who worked almost exclusively in printmaking mediums. His work included engravings, linocuts, etchings, and lithographs, though he is most remembered for the technical skill of his woodcuts and wood engravings.

Haren Das followed a tradition of wood engraving that developed in the bazaars of north Calcutta in the mid-19th century.

Throughout his career, Das remained committed to British academic and Victorian ideals that included concepts of perfection and traditionally perceived beauty. Unlike artists such as Somnath Hore, who reacted with brutal directness to the horrors of the 1943 Bengal Famine, Haren Das remained focused upon his vision of a rural ideal. However, his bucolic images paid continuous homage to the hardworking people of India’s farms and villages.