DHANRAJ BHAGAT (1917-1988)

“Dhanraj Bhagat remains one of the most important of Delhi artists […] A contemporary of Prodosh Das Gupta, Sankho Chaudhury and others, Bhagat represents the trend of ‘restrained expression’, whether in his clay, wood or metals. He combines a striving for monumentality, shaped in his contacts with architects […] and revealed in his monumental and seemingly inscrutable forms, all done with great beauty and great sensitivity to the beauty of sculpted surfaces. This shows clearly in his work ever since the forties. Bhagat is a ‘Constructor’ not merely because of his being a teacher of art, but because of his specific temperament […] he wrought forms imposing their own order or searching for it in the face of reality; what he presented was not disintegration but intrinsic structure and consistency.” (K. Malick, ‘Dhanraj Bhagat, Portrait of an Artist’, Lalit Kala Contemporary 35, 1989, pp. 9-10)