Riten Mozumdar (1927 -2006) passed away in 2006 after an illustrious career spanning five decades. Despite working and exhibiting prolifically, today his immense legacy remains largely forgotten.

In the decades immediately following independence, Riten Mozumdar was one of the most significant artist-designers of India’s modernist design renaissance. Educated in painting, sculpture, design and crafts at Santiniketan, Mozumdar was the product of a schooling that emphasised an engagement with heritage as well as arts and crafts; both understood to be integral to an all-round education. He cherished his relationship with the artist and educator Benodebehari Mukherjee, who came to look upon Mozumdar as a son.

After completing further studies in Yugoslavia and Italy, Mozumdar made his way to Finland and was working at Arabia, a Finnish ceramics company, when Armi Ratia, the founder of Printex-Marimekko, discovered him. He worked as a textile designer with Marimekko for tenmonths between 1956 and 1957, making numerous original designs for their collection.

Upon his return to India, Mozumdar’s original vision and distinctive approach gained instantaneous attention. He started a studio – M Prints – out of a garage in Delhi 1959, and within two years, had advanced to an outlet with a dedicated workshop and thirty employees. His work was in high demand and sold through various outlets in India. By 1969, he was a name to be reckoned with and counted Prime Minister Indira Gandhi amongst his clientele.

An important phase of Mozumdar’s career was his association with FabIndia which began in 1966 and lasted until 2000. When FabIndia founder, John Bissell, began a line of contemporary designs in 1977, Mozumdar (a good friend) was given carte blanche to design for the label. Using geometrical shapes in bold and colourful blocks and silkscreen, he created a line of household linen that became hugely successful and synonymous with the FabIndia ethos.

The range of Mozumdar’s professional activities from the 1960s till the end of his life was astonishing: he designed a line of contemporary-classic furniture (this foray could be seen as an extension of his experience in wood carving and sculpture); he re-contextualised and transformed his experience of working with wool when he combined the traditional Namdah, in an inspired act of synergy, with tie and dye, discharge print, calligraphic blocks and embroidery; and he designed clothes lines, often using dramatic geometric motifs to create a contemporary allure.

Never one to rest on his laurels, Mozumdar was always on the lookout for newer challenges, including large scale public commissions. Between 1972 and the late 80’s Mozumdar collaborated with Sachdev Eggleston Associates on several high-profile and award-winning projects. Other architects and engineers he enjoyed working with collaboratively included Ram Sharma, Rajinder Kumar, Raj Rewal and Ravi Sikri.

His return to Santiniketan in 1988, also marked Mozumdar’s return to art. He created a series of paintings made with acid dyes on silk with a drop shadow effect to clusters of calligraphic script. These paintings mark the culmination of Mozumdar’s dynamic and syncretic vision, straddling the spectrum of both the arts and crafts; disavowing categorization.

~ An excerpt from the curatorial note by Ushmita Sahu
Ushmita Sahu has been researching the life and work of Riten Mozumdar and recently received a grant from the India Foundation for the Arts under the Arts Research programme,
with support from Titan Company Ltd.