Overview

IMPRINT: Riten Mozumdar
Curatorial note

In the decades immediately following independence, Riten Mozumdar (1927 – 2006) was one of the most significant artist-designers of India’s modernist design renaissance. Responding to the socioeconomic and cultural upheaval sweeping through the country, Mozumdar and his contemporaries such as Nelly Sethna, Ratna Fabri, Shona Ray and others, approached design as a complex nation-building idiom with a dedicated focus on modernisation as well as revivalism. Inventiveness, variety and deference for both historical perspectives as well as for newer icons of style and techniques characterised Mozumdar’s oeuvre . Between the 1950s and 1980s, his celebrated and influential practice heralded a new brand of aesthetics. He was proclaimed by Jaya Appaswamy as an ‘artist-designer whose creativity pointed forward into the future’. Mozumdar’s body of work displays a diversity of range and materials exemplifying a rare mastery over mediums and techniques.

Best remembered for his contribution to the world of design, Mozumdar, however, referred to himself as an artist-sculptor. His tryst with art began as a student in Tagore’s Santiniketan between 1946-50, coinciding with the dawn of an independent India. Educated in painting, sculpture, design and crafts at Kala Bhavana, by luminaries such as Nandalal Bose, Ram Kinkar Baij and Benodebehari Mukherjee, Mozumdar was the product of a schooling which emphasised engagement with heritage as well as arts and crafts as integral to an all-round education. He cherished his relationship with  Benodebehari , who came to look upon Mozumdar as a son.

Subsequently, under Benodebehari’s guidance, Mozumdar devoted a year in Nepal training in traditional crafts and design with master craftsman Kulasundar Shilakarmi. During the 1950s, Nepal was still a feudal society with no demarcations between art and craft. Here, Mozumdar developed an appreciation for, and knowledge of, indigenous wood and stone sculpting, metal casting, sheet and beaten metal crafts, banner painting and block making for book printing. Around 1951, he went to Delhi and later to Mussourie where  Benodebehari had started a summer school and block printing unit. Here, both teacher and student created original block-printed material. By now, Mozumdar had exhibited several times with Benodebehari, Leela Mukherjee and in one instance, with Ram Kinkar Baij. To quote KG Subramanyan “Between 1949 and 57 he broke on the Indian art scene with an impressive spate of exhibitions of painting and sculpture singly or with others.”

Positive media reviews of his work helped Mozumdar gain a two-year scholarship to study with sculptor Boris Kalin at the Academy of Fine Arts, Ljubljana, Yugoslavia. From 1955 to 56 he trained in an academic style, a marked departure from his previous training at either Santiniketan or Nepal. Whilst in Europe, Mozumdar received another bursary from Giuseppe Tucci, an Italian scholar of East Asian studies, to visit Italy. After completing his studies, 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 ten months between 1956 and 57, making numerous original designs for their collection. The designs that he made here clearly demarcate a departure in perception and process; a move away from his earlier lyricism towards a crisper, more minimal, pared-down approach. Although a full-blown move towards abstract sensibilities would take a few more years.

After Finland, Mozumdar travelled through the United Kingdom and the USA studying sculpture, ceramics, silkscreen and visiting museums before returning to India in December 1958.  On the ship back to India, he met Charles Correa for the first time.  They would both go on to represent India at the World Design Conference in Japan in 1960 and, indeed, Mozumdar forged a lifelong friendship with the architect. Together with Charles and Monika Correa, Mozumdar’s close-knit circle of friends included his sister Chitra and her husband Jolly Barua, a designer who worked with Shilpi and HHEC. They would meet often in Mumbai or at Mozumdar’s house in Delhi and discuss art, design, or films. Correa also designed Mozumdar’s house in Delhi.

Upon returning to India, Mozumdar’s original vision and distinctive approach gained instantaneous attention. He started a studio – M Prints – out of a garage in 1959, and within two years, had advanced to an outlet in South Extension with a dedicated workshop and thirty employees. Mozumdar crafted fabrics, dress materials, furnishings, saris, household linen and much more. He  was involved at every stage of the manufacture, at times doing everything himself, but he also worked with lineal block carvers and printers from Rajasthan and Delhi. Mozumdar adapted traditional blocks to create contemporary motifs. He approached design like an artist, largely making unique or limited edition hand-crafted works.

Throughout his long career, calligraphy and text held a great fascination for Mozumdar. Numerous designs feature various adaptations and permutations of Persian, Tibetan, Pali, Devanagari, Sanskrit, Bengali and other scripts. Inspired by the Namavali gamchas of U.P. and Bengal, Mozumdar produced series of designs celebrating text in its purely visual element, divorced from a religious or social context; in some instances, indeed, superimposition rendered the text indecipherable. He also used images of ancient seals and stamps as elements in his designs. In a well-known work, he magnified the inscriptions on a two-inch Babur’s seal into a wall hanging. For Mozumdar, the boundaries between the fine arts and the functional arts were porous. As a result of his art education, his subsequent travels, and learning new design methodologies,  Mozumdar was ahead of his time in employing visual exegesis towards the creation of new design perspectives.

His work was in high demand and sold through various outlets in India: The Central Cottage Industries Emporium, Delhi; The Cottage and Small Scale Industries Emporium and Chitra, Bombay; and Bengal Home Industries Association and West Bengal Government Sales emporiums, Calcutta. Internationally, products he designed were exported to Liberty’s, London; Illums Bolighus, Denmark; and Design Thai, Bangkok. By 1969, he was a name to be reckoned with and counted Prime Minister Indira Gandhi amongst his clientele. She acquired his pieces for personal use as well as gifts for foreign governments and dignitaries.

Between the 1960-80s, Mozumdar was acting consultant to numerous public sector companies and private firms. Prominent amongst these were All India Handicrafts Board (AIHB), TAARU, DCM, Everest Fabrics, Maharashtra Small Scale Industries Development Corporation, The Shop, Handloom Board etc.

In his capacity as a design advisor to AIHB, Mozumdar worked tirelessly to revive the jalee (latticework) work from Saharanpur in Utter Pradesh, and the ivory inlay furniture industry from Hoshiarpur in Punjab. As further proof of his ingenuity, Mozumdar researched and integrated the jalee and archway styles of Indo- Islamic architecture into chairs, tables, screens. Adding hand-cut jalee emphasized light and shade as an intrinsic part of the object, adding airiness and transparency to what might otherwise be solid, heavy and dark pieces of furniture.

Mozumdar designed a line of furniture which could be called contemporary-classic for Minnie Boga’s TAARU. He also had his own line of furniture made by his trusted carpenter, Yasin. The foray into furniture could be seen as an extension of his experience in wood carving and sculpture. These contemporary designs had noticeable Japanese, Scandinavian and American influences, although at times using jute strings to weave the seats, he added an indigenous twist. His contemporary designs were indicative of the tastes of the times:  low seating, minimal lines, simple and fuss-free.

For AIHB, Mozumdar had also worked with Kashmiri floor coverings, felting, and embroidered and applique rugs. Mozumdar 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. Utilitarian rugs usually meant for the floors, in his hands, were converted into objets d’art that could now be proudly displayed on the walls. These comprised an important part of his legacy. Compared by many to tantric art, Mozumdar was insistent that his principal aim was the exploration of geometric forms, and in doing so certain comparisons were bound to arise.

Mozumdar was part of the ‘Living India’ show at MoMA, New York,  in 1954-55 and The Scandinavian Design Cavalcade in 1956-57. He represented the Indian Cooperative Union at the World Design Conference, Tokyo, in 1960, where he also exhibited his wall hangings. In 1971, two of his shows won him recognition and critical acclaim: ‘Tie Dye Rugs’- a one man Show of felted rugs at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York, and ‘Tie & Dye & Printed Felt Rugs’ at the Museum of Decorative Arts, Copenhagen. In 1985, he exhibited in a group show –  ‘For the Floor’ – at the American Craft Museum II, New York. This international exhibition of contemporary handmade rugs travelled to various centres throughout the USA. Meanwhile, he continued to exhibit regularly in many venues across India including the Ford Foundation, India International Centre and Triveni Kala Sangam in Delhi, and Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai.

An important phase of Mozumdar’s career was his association with FabIndia which began in 1966 and lasted until 2000. John Bissell, FabIndia’s founder, and Mozumdar had developed a friendship during the first half of the 1960s and it was Bissell who initially invited Mozumdar to collaborate by way of creating paisley prints for the company. These designs were very well received and so, when Bissell wished to start a line of contemporary designs in 1977, Mozumdar was given carte blanche. 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. To quote Meena Chowdhury, former chairperson of FabIndia: “Riten burst on the scene with his graphic designs, his bold colours, his stark geometric statement and I think that caught the imagination, particularly of the young. As far as FabIndia was concerned, for almost 20 years there was no stopping the kind of desire that people had for these bold statements and designs… I recall people used to wait for the collection every week.”

In addition to his many accomplishments, Mozumdar also designed garments for labels such as FabIndia; Design Thai, Bangkok; his label, ‘Riten’; but predominantly for Bharati Sharma’s label, Pallavi. These were exported to the Middle East, Australia and Canada. His clothing lines were simple, striking and used dramatic geometric motifs to create a contemporary allure. Whether for export or the local market, these were made for the independent modern woman.

Never one to rest on his laurels, Mozumdar was always on the lookout for newer challenges. His first large-scale public commission was the 1968 Gandhi Darshan-‘India of My Dreams’ Pavilion for which he created an awning that symbolically depicted the religions of India. For the India Pavilion at Expo’70 in Osaka, Japan, he created a series of wall hangings in wool. Between 1972 and the late 80’s Mozumdar collaborated with Sachdev Eggleston Associates on several high-profile and award-winning projects such as the 1972 Third Asian Trade Fair Mural in Plastic for BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd.) Pavilion. For the Asia’72 Hall of Nations at Pragati Maidan Delhi, Mozumdar built a massive mobile sculpture in wood, iron, plastic and paint, covering 20 metres in width and 12.5 metres in height that gained reputation as the world’s largest mobile sculpture. Other commissions included the International Trade fair in Algiers (during the Non-Aligned Conference of 1973); the interiors for the Ashoka Restaurant in Bangalore, Akbar and Surya Hotels in Delhi; and other major projects in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Nepal and Thailand. In each instance, his vision of the design element was always integral to the project as a whole, with Mozumdar displaying a keen understanding of possibilities inherent in any material. Architects and engineers he enjoyed working with collaboratively included Jasbir Sachdev, Rosemary Eggleston, Ram Sharma, Rajinder Kumar, Raj Rewal, Ravi Sikri.

Mozumdar was a Member, Governing Council, NID, from 1977-81. Upon his return to Santiniketan,

Visva Bharati University invited him to take on the role of Honorary Visiting Professor at Kala Bhavana (1990-2002). He was also advisor to the Board of Studies at Shilpa Sadan, Sriniketan. The University also honoured his contributions to the field of art by bestowing him with the Gagan-Abani Puraskar in 1999.

His return to Santiniketan in 1988, also marked Mozumdar’s return to art. He created a series of calligraphic paintings made with acid dyes on silk with a drop shadow effect to the clusters of script. Mostly monochromatic, relieved at times by splash of red or blue, these works exhibit Mozumdar’s lifelong preoccupation with text.  However, unlike his designs which primarily used text as a pattern or motif, here Mozumdar’s use underlined certain conceptual preoccupations. He used excerpts from Tagore’s poem Dinanto Belay (End of the day) which include specific inferences of death and loss. This independent series, beautiful in its austerity, marks the culmination of Mozumdar’s dynamic and syncretic vision, straddling the spectrum of both the arts and crafts; disavowing categorization.

Riten Mozumdar passed away in 2006 leaving behind an illustrious career spanning five decades. In his lifetime, Mozumdar had worked and exhibited prolifically both nationally and internationally, yet today his immense legacy remains largely forgotten. To redress this lacuna,  IMPRINT: Riten Mozumdar foregrounds this pioneering polymath’s narrative which has, with time, been pushed to the margins of documented history.

Chatterjee and Lal is honoured to host this first comprehensive exhibition based on ongoing research and documentation by Riten Mozumdar scholar Ushmita Sahu. The show assembles never before seen archival material including namdas, furnishings, dress and sarees, scarves, design samples, wood blocks, metal dice for jaali work, drawings, photographs, calligraphy paintings “Dinanto Belay” series and more.

Ushmita Sahu
Santiniketan
Dec 2019

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.