Bridge to Global Literature
₹1,499.00
Stalwart artist Shanu Lahiri fostered a lifelong affection for all beings, human or animal. This book holds a collage of recollections, family stories and vignettes of all the dogs, cats, kites, kittens, tigers, ducks, pigs, chicks, otters, bears, squirrels, rabbits, monkeys and people who lived or crossed paths with her. These tales have been spun so effortlessly by a seasoned storyteller whose voice is candid and fun yet steeped in empathy and wonder for even the smallest miracles surrounding us.
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Artist, educationist, poet and raconteur, Shanu Lahiri was born in Calcutta, the youngest sister to well-known litterateur Kamal Kumar Majumdar and painter Nirode Mazumder. She graduated from the Government College of Art and Craft, Calcutta in 1951 and then studied at the École du Louvre and the Académie Julian between 1956 to 1958, on a French Government Scholarship. Later, she was appointed Reader in the Visual Arts department at Rabindra Bharati University, and then went on to become the Dean of the Faculty of Visual Arts. Throughout the 1980s, she was deeply committed and involved in numerous public art initiatives through her ‘Love Calcutta Project’ where she encouraged the larger community, especially street children and students, to paint on the walls of Kolkata in an effort to beautify the city as an alternative to political graffiti. Inspired by the folk figures of Bengal, she created the Paroma sculpture on the E.M Bypass. On two occasions, she was also invited to create the Durga idol for the Bakulbagan Puja. In 1983, the first collective of women artists led by Shanu Lahiri, named ‘The Group’ was formed. The founding members were Karuna Shaha, Shanu Lahiri, Meera Mukherjee, Santosh Rohatgi Maitra and Shyamasree Basu. Shanu Lahiri’s creations have gone through numerous explorations of genres, materials, techniques and subjects throughout the years. Be it paintings or experiments with ceramics, etching on x-ray plates, drawings on bromide, mono light and multicoloured light prints, bronze sculptures or her unique series of large paintings depicting historical, mythical/social issues, her works have retained both quality and artistry. She also designed and executed scenographies for several professional stage productions. Shanudi’s art and almost compulsive archiving of memories, lore and images evolve around her deep connection with the world of humans, non-humans, and the environment they inhabit. A quiet radicalism pervades her approach to people, urban locales, private spaces, and an enmeshed way of living. Well-known art collector and scholar, Dr. Max Stern of the Dominion Art Gallery, Montreal, Canada, offered her a permanent residency; she declined the offer in favour of working in her beloved city, Calcutta. What was a loss for Montreal was perhaps a gain for her city. She authored several books: Rabindra Chitra Chetana (Ananda Publishers), which offers a critical insight into the visual language of Rabindranath Tagore, while Smritir Collage, her autobiography, speaks of her childhood and upbringing in an intensely artistic and energising family. Her book Endo Goli Theke Beni Madhav is a collection of stories revolving around the many animals/anecdotes that surrounded her. She was also a published poet under the pseudonym Hasna Banu. A recipient of several awards, including the President of India’s Gold Medal in 1951, the Governor of West Bengal’s award in 1974, and Woman of the Millennium by Biswa Bangla Sammelan in 1999. In 2003, Rabindra Bharati University conferred upon her a D.Litt and in 2008, she was awarded the Prabha Khaitan Puraskar. In 2022, INTACH and Rotary installed a commemorative plaque at her place of work and stay in Lake Town, Kolkata.
Over the years, she received the disturbing and dubious distinction of being converted into an ‘art institution’ by herself.
A bilingual writer and translator, Bishnupriya Chowdhuri holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Central Florida and an MA in Comparative Literature from Jadavpur University. She translates short fiction, creative non-fiction, memoirs and experimental lyrical prose from Bengali to English. She has edited multiple translated fiction anthologies, including Flaming Flowers vol 1 and 2, novels and memoirs. Her first work of translation, No One As Rano Biswas by Alokparn, came out in 2023. She was awarded the ALTA Emerging Translator Mentorship 2025 and Dhvani Fellowship for Literary Translation at the Sangam House Writers’ Residency in 2023. Other than writing, she keeps close, her daughter’s hands, afternoon breezes and the jade plants that know everything
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| Pages | 124 |
| ISBN | 9788197840128 |
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