Sobha Brahma (14 October 1929 – 2012) was an Indian painter and sculptor. He lived and worked in

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

. He graduated from the Kalabhavana Visva-Bharati University Shantiniketan West-Bengal. Brahma developed a unique individual style that mixed traditional folk and modern Indian art. He served as the Principal of the Government College Of Arts and Crafts Assam, as the Vice-Chairman of the prominent cultural centre Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra, set up under the Assam Accord, and as a member of the general council of

Lalit Kala Akademi The Lalit Kala Akademi or National Academy of Art (LKA) is India's national academy of fine arts. It is an autonomous organisation, established in New Delhi in 1954 by Government of India to promote and propagate understanding of Indian art, i ...

Early life and education

Sobha Brahma was born on October 14, 1929 in Gossaihaon, Assam. Brahma attended

Cotton College Cotton College was a Roman Catholic boarding school in Cotton, Staffordshire, United Kingdom. It was also known as ''Saint Wilfrid's College''. The school buildings were centred on Cotton Hall, a country house used by religious communities fro ...

, Guwahati from 1948 to 1952. He received his Art education at Kalabhavan, Visva-Bharti Santiniketan, West Benga l from 1952 to 1957. He trained under several artists, including

Nandalal Bose Nandalal Bose (3 December 1882 – 16 April 1966) was one of the pioneers of modern Indian art and a key figure of Contextual Modernism. A pupil of Abanindranath Tagore, Bose was known for his "Indian style" of painting. He became the principa ...

, Dhriendra Krishna Dev Barman and

Ramkinkar Baij Ramkinkar Baij ( bn, রামকিঙ্কর বেইজ) (25 May 1906 – 2 August 1980) was an Indian sculptor and painter, one of the pioneers of modern Indian sculpture and a key figure of Contextual Modernism. Early life and ...

. In 1956, he participated at the 4th International Art Students Exhibition held in Prague Czechoslovakia. In his early years, Brahma worked as an art teacher at Tarini Chowdhury HSMP School Guwahati, from 1955 to 1958. He participated in the decoration of the All India Congress session held at Pragjyotishpur in 1958. In 1959, Brahma was awarded a research scholarship by the Department of Tribal Culture and Folklore, Gauhati University. He subsequently made a tour of the tribal areas of the

Bodos Boro (बर'/बड़ो ), also called Bodo, is the largest ethnolinguistic group in the Assam state of India. They are a part of the greater Bodo-Kachari family of ethnolinguistic groups and are spread across northeastern India. They are ...

, Rabhas and Dimasa Kacharis to study their art materials, including their rich collection of variegated fabric designs. From 1960 onward, Brahma worked as a teacher at the School of Arts and Crafts, Assam, which later became the Government College Of Arts and Crafts Assam. He was principal of the College from 1964 to 1989.

Contribution

Sobha Brahma was renowned as an author, sculptor, and painter throughout the north-eastern states of India . He was able to write in Bodo,

Assamese Assamese may refer to: * Assamese people, a socio-ethnolinguistic identity of north-eastern India * People of Assam, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious people of Assam * Assamese language, one of the easternmost Indo-Aryan language ...

, English, and Bengali. Besides writing essays, biographies, and memoirs, he was also a film director. Brahma translated many important art books into Assamese. His paintings have been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions internationally. Many of his works were specially showcased in

Dacca Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...

, Bangladesh; Sofia, Bulgaria; Rome, Italy; and Prague, Czech Republic. His work is part of collections at the Government Museum, Chandigarh, the Assam State Museum, Lalit Kala Akademi and several government departments in Assam, as well as private collections in Assam, Shillong, Bombay, and Germany. ''Silpokalar Navajanma'' (''Assamese Book on Art'') is one of his noted creations.

Honours and awards

He was honoured with felicitations from several social, cultural and art educational organizations such as the Assam Sahitya Sabha, the Bodo Sathitya Sabha, Kollol Gisthi of Nangoan, the Artist Guild of Guwahati, the State Bank of India and the Deputy Commissioner's Employees Association of Guwahati. In February 2000, he was artist-in-residence at the Lalit Kala Kendra, Kolkata. Sobha Brahma was a member of the Central Lalit Kala Akademi, the New Delhi and the Assam Textbook Production Corporation. He served as vice-chairman of the Anundoram Borooah Institute of Language, Art and Culture, Guwahati. Brahma was honored with the Assam Shilpi Dibash Award in 1977 and the Assam Government Artists pension in 1990. He was awarded the prestigious

Kamal Kumari National Award The Kamal Kumari National Award is an Indian Award given to individuals and groups in India for outstanding contribution to Art, Culture & Literature and Science & Technology. It was instituted by the Kamal Kumari Foundation in 1990 in memory of ...

in 1990 and the Assam State Bishnu Rabha Award in 1996.

Death

At the age of 82, Sobha Brahma died at Guwahati following a prolonged illness.

References

External links

Indigenous Writers of India: North-East India Originally published: 1 January 2006 Author: R. K. Gupta

Times of India – Artist Sobha Brahma no more

THE BODY AS CULTURAL AND POLITICAL ANATOMY – THE ART OF SHOBHA BRAHMA
* http://www.oocities.org/bipuljyoti/art/shobhabrahma.html * http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=mar0612/at06