Hemen Mazumdar: The last romantic

• Main Authors: CORNI, Caterina, KUMAR, Nirmalya
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2019
• Subjects: Indian artist; Hemen Mazumdar; Indian Academy of Fine Arts; portraits; Asian Studies; Fine Arts
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/6085; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/7084/viewcontent/Hemen_Mazumdar_Last_Romantic_Corni_Kumar.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Hemendranath Mazumdar, popularly referred to as Hemen Mazumdar, was born 1894 in Gachihata village of Mymensingh district, which is currently part of Bangladesh. Coming from a relatively wealthy landowning family, at the age of sixteen, Hemen dropped out of school and ran away to Calcutta to pursue his passion for painting. He enrolled at the Government College of Art in 1911, but left in 1912 for another institution, Jubilee Art Academy. By 1915, he left Jubilee Art Academy to start earning his living through portrait painting. Abanindranath Tagore’s coterie had banished any artist following the western academic approach. In response, in 1919, Hemen Mazumdar with Atul Bose and Jamini Roy, established The Indian Academy of Fine Arts. The 1920s helped establish Hemen Mazumdar as a major Indian artist with a national reputation.