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Somnath Hore

A humanitarian at heart, Somnath Hore joined the banned Communist Party of India as a young student, becoming an active participant of the Party-led Tebhaga movement during the 1940s. His art career subsequently took him to Delhi for a few years, but his return to Bengal in 1967 corresponded with the Left’s historic rise to power in the state for the first time. While the promise of utopian socialism initially held appeal, the violence that accompanied the Left’s ascent deeply disturbed Hore, challenging his earlier political convictions. It was during this tumultuous period that he moved to Santiniketan at the behest of a friend, Dinkar Kowshik. At Santiniketan, he found inspiration in the pedagogical legacy of Abanindranath Tagore and Nandalal Bose, as well as the artistic practice of Benodebehari Mukherji and Ramkinkar Baij. In the university environs of Santiniketan, despite being a teacher himself, he felt the vigour of a young student.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Hore began experimenting with the medium of colour lithography, simultaneously making a significant stylistic shift from figurative representation toward abstraction. Hore has captured an intimate moment of playful affection in this coloured lithograph – a figure approaches from behind to cover the eyes of an elderly woman, creating a tender guessing game that relies on the intimacy of familiar touch. The approaching figure could be a son, friend, or family member arriving to surprise the woman in the foreground. The composition’s background dissolves into abstract washes of colour.