Work in Progress
2011
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
2011
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Work in Progress is a 2011 paint by Anwar Chitrakar, depicting Kalighat, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This ink and watercolor on paper shows how a Kalighat painting is built step by step. The artist has laid down the bold outlines, blocked in the black and white shapes, and left the fine details for last. We see a scene with three women, one seated apart, that spins the usual babu and bibi story in a fresh way. Anwar Chitrakar keeps the 200-year-old Kalighat method alive in 2011. He lets us peek behind the curtain at the order of work: big shapes first, then faces, clothes, and shading. Check out more Anwar Chitrakar.
The painting illustrates a Kalighat-style scene in progress, showing three figures: a *babu* with a *bibi* seated on his lap and a third woman, likely his neglected wife, positioned at the lower left. The composition is rendered in black, white, and yellow, with a red curtain draped across the top, while finer details such as facial features and garment textures remain unexecuted. The *babu* and *bibi* are depicted in an intimate pose, sharing a hookah, and the work’s unfinished state is evident in the absence of the *bibi’s* mouth and the lack of shading or clothing details.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Anwar Chitrakar paints in the Kalighat tradition, a 19th-century style from Calcutta that turned everyday scenes into bold, witty scrolls.
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