Suhas Roy

Known for his sensitive Christ figures and unique depiction of female faces, Suhas Roy (1936-2016) was a versatile painter who transported the day-to-day world and commonplace subjects into a different realm of fantasy and imagination.

Roy was born in Dhaka in undivided Bengal and had studied painting at the Indian College of Arts and Draftsmanship, Kolkata. He further travelled to Paris to study Graphic Art and Mural Art at the Ecole Superior Des Beaux-Arts, Paris. Greatly inspired by European modernism while in France, his major source of influence was the Japanese artist Taikan whose black and white works had a greater impact. Roy’s palette is mild, smudgy and explicit at times.

Roy is perhaps best known for his paintings depicting Christ. His painting Jesus in mixed media is a part of the prestigious collection of the Vatican. Most of his later works are a fitting tribute to the mystery and beauty of women, bringing alive the aura and grace of ordinary women. At the same time, he also indulged in mythological and spiritual female subjects like Radha. Roy is known for his Radha series wherein his depiction of Radha stands in contrast to the stereotypical portrayals of Krishna’s eternal lover. In his paintings, Radha is the beauty personified but she becomes emblematic of the larger womanhood as an epitome of pathos, melancholy, and struggles. Significantly, the posture of figures and their subtle expressions articulate persisting gender sentiments!

Being a printmaker and working in glass, Roy’s works have been exhibited widely in India and abroad. He has been felicitated with many awards. Suhas Roy was the Head of the Department of Painting at Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan until he breathed his last.