KOLKATA — Jogen Chowdhury, one of India’s most eminent modern and contemporary master painters, passed away on Sunday morning, October 25, 2026, at a private hospital in Kolkata at the age of 87. He had been undergoing treatment for myeloproliferative neoplasm, a rare form of blood cancer, for the past 14 months.

Chowdhury was admitted to Ruby General Hospital on October 16 following health complications and passed away at 10:15 a.m..

A Line of His Own: The Poetic Master of Human Frailty

Born on February 15, 1939, in Daharpara village, Faridpur (in present-day Bangladesh), Chowdhury and his family relocated to Kolkata following the 1947 Partition. This displacement deeply informed his sensitivity to human vulnerability, urban turmoil, and emotional resilience.

He studied at Kolkata’s prestigious Government College of Art and Craft before pursuing advanced artistic training at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts and Atelier 17 in Paris.

Chowdhury developed a signature visual idiom that became an cornerstone of Indian contemporary art:

• The Cross-Hatching Technique: Blending ink, watercolor, and soft dry pastels, his sinuous, undulating contours and intricate cross-hatching gave volume and psychological tension to human figures and still life.
• Themes of Frailty and Sensuality: His depictions of the human body—often exaggerated, amoeboid, or distorted, captured both intimacy and social alienation with rare tenderness.
• Cultural Fusion: He seamlessly merged traditional Indian folk motifs and iconography with Western modernist sensibilities.
  
  

Public Service and Academic Leadership

Beyond his studio practice, Chowdhury played a vital role in institutional art administration and public service:

• Keeper of Art at Rashtrapati Bhavan: From 1972 to 1987, he served as the Art Curator at the Official Residence of the President of India in New Delhi.
• Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan: In 1987, he joined the faculty of Visva-Bharati University’s Kala Bhavana as a Professor of Painting, mentoring generations of emerging artists.
• Parliamentary Tenure: From 2014 to 2020, Chowdhury represented West Bengal as a Trinamool Congress (TMC) Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha.
• Charubasona Museum: In 2019, he established the Charubasona Museum to house and preserve his lifetime collection of artworks.

Accolades and Legacy

Chowdhury’s contributions to art were honored with numerous awards, including the prestigious Kalidas Samman (2001) by the Government of Madhya Pradesh and the Banga Bibhushan (2012). His works have been showcased in landmark exhibitions across the globe, including the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the Havana Biennale, and the Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA).

Art historians, curators, and fellow artists across Asia and the global art community have expressed profound grief at his passing, remembering him not only as a visionary painter who gave “human frailty a line of its own,” but also as a dedicated educator and advocate for Indian modernism.