Lalu Prasad Shaw

Lalu Prasad Shaw

Lalu Prasad Shaw finished his fine arts studies at the Government College of Arts and Crafts in Kolkata. He was born in Bengal in 1937. Lalu Prasad Shaw is mainly known for his highly stylized portraits of Bengali ladies and couples, which emphasise the physical attributes of their subjects. Every painting by Shaw has an air of intimacy because he masterfully captures the expressions of his characters while using the least amount of line and colour possible. Shaw’s paintings, which are mostly done in tempera or gouache and are influenced by the pre-independence Company School of art, the traditional Kalighat Pat, and the Ajanta cave paintings, are straightforward and elegant with a smooth, composed, and motionless appearance, much like his own persona. This senior artist frequently paints peaceful and serene themes from his personal life on canvases and papers, drawing inspiration mostly from nature and the environment surrounding the large Bengali middle class. His approach to combining academic and traditional Indian styles is distinct and contemporary. Even though Shaw considered himself a painter, he developed an interest in printmaking at the age of 32. Having previously worked with lithographs and intaglios, he quickly became an expert in this field of graphic arts, cementing his reputation as a painter. From 1956 until the present, Shaw has held numerous exhibitions both in India and overseas. His creations have been included in high-profile international shows like the 1970 second British Biennale in London, the 1974 and 1978 Norwegian Print Biennales, the 1971 seventh Paris Biennale, and the 1984 second Asian Art Biennale, which was organised by Bangladesh. Shaw’s paintings stand out in especially for their understated elegance. It is evident how several stylistic components are seamlessly combined to create an amazing effect. Several organisations, like the Art Forum in Singapore and the Birla Academy in Calcutta, have his work in their permanent collections. Living and working in Kolkata, Lalu Prasad Shaw’s son Partha has made a name for himself as a young artist. 

Lalu Prasad Shaw