Academy of Fine Arts, Calcutta
Encyclopedia
The Academy of Fine Arts in Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

 (formerly Calcutta) is one of the oldest fine arts societies in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.

History

The academy was formally established in 1933. It was initially located in a room loaned by the Indian Museum
Indian Museum
The Indian Museum is the largest museum in India and has rare collections of antiques, armour and ornaments, fossils, skeletons, mummies, and Mughal paintings...

, and the annual exhibitions used to take place in the adjoining verandah
Verandah
A veranda or verandah is a roofed opened gallery or porch. It is also described as an open pillared gallery, generally roofed, built around a central structure...

.

In the 1950s, thanks to the efforts of Lady Ranoo Mookerjee and patronage by B.C. Roy
Bidhan Chandra Roy
Bidhan Chandra Roy, M.R.C.P., F.R.C.S. was the second Chief Minister of West Bengal in India. He remained in his post for 14 years as a Indian National Congress candidate, from 1948 until his death in 1962. He was a highly respected physician and a renowned freedom fighter...

, Chief Minister of West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...

, as well as Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...

, the Prime Minister of India, the academy was shifted to a much larger space in the Cathedral Road, beside St. Paul’s Cathedral, the present location. Eminent painter Jahar Dasgupta
Jahar Dasgupta
Jahar Dasgupta, is senior contemporary painter from India.-Biography:Jahar Dasgupta was born in Jamshedpur in the year 1942. He was admitted to Kalabhavan, Santiniketan in 1959 and took his primary lessons under legendary mentors like Nand Lal Bose, Ramkinkar Baiz and Benode Behari Mukherjee...

is presently the Vice President of Academy of Fine Arts.

External links

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