The Visual Arts Gallery at the India Habitat Centre is currently hosting “UNVEILED: Pratap Deb – The Artist. His Art. His Journey”, a retrospective celebrating the seven-decade-long career of the late artist Pratap Deb.
Curated by Oroon Das, the exhibition showcases his works across oil, acrylic, pencil, and pen, tracing Deb’s evolution from a student at the Government College of Art and Craft, Calcutta, to a government designer and finally a masterful studio artist at Lalit Kala Akademi Studio in Garhi, New Delhi.
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Shubhendu Deb, Pratap Deb’s son, recalls his earliest memories of his father at work. He said, “When a composition came to his mind, he would instantly use any paper in front of him to draw. I loved the smell of oil paints and turpentine in the quiet intensity of his corner studio.”
Art was ever-present at home, he adds, from paintings on the walls to evenings enriched by Rabindranath Tagore’s songs and books on European masters like Picasso, Van Gogh, and Matisse, which shaped his early understanding of art history.
Many of Deb’s works remained unseen during his lifetime, largely due to his preference to focus on creation rather than exhibition and the demands of his professional career in graphic design and mass communication. His iconic campaigns, including “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan” and “Hum Do Hamare Do”, blended fine art with effective mass communication.
“Subject should dictate style,” Shubhendu explains, noting how his father’s artistic philosophy applied seamlessly across personal and professional projects.
Deb’s later years at the Garhi studio showcased his versatility, spanning impressionist beginnings, graphic design-influenced works, and explorations in multiple painting styles. “He taught me to see beauty and meaning in the simplest things,” Shubhendu says. “Many of his creations come from observations of everyday life.”
Shubhendu Deb, while describing his father’s “art of noticing,” said, “He had an extraordinary ability to find meaning in the ordinary that surrounds us. He found his model in a woman fruit seller on the way to Shillong, which would have seemed ordinary to many, but he saw colors and stories in that mundanity.
He saw the laborers at the construction site as a perfect subject to convey a societal message. Many such observations led to the creation of a story that is well depicted on his canvas.”
Curator Oroon Das’s vision for the exhibition aimed to mirror Deb’s nuanced eye. “Oroon has a profound appreciation for art, and his expertise in spatial design connects the audience with the artist’s body of work,” Shubhendu notes.
The exhibition, open until September 14, from 11 am to 8 pm, offers visitors a chance to explore Pratap Deb’s creative universe, emphasizing observation, storytelling, and the artistry embedded in everyday life. For younger viewers and first-time audiences, it is an invitation to understand versatility in artistic expression and the subtle power of noticing the world around us.
