(23 July, 1895 – 1 March, 1989)
Mukul Chandra Dey born in Kolkata in 1895, was a renowned Indian artist and a pioneering figure in the field of detailed dry point-etching and one of the first Indians to travel abroad for art education, studying at the Royal College of Art in London and later at various institutions in the United States. He primarily worked in watercolors, drawings, sketching and printmaking. Dey was a student of Abanindranath Tagore. He created more than 100 copper plates and over 2000 paintings and drawings. In his early years, he received his first artistic training while studying at Rabindranath Tagore’s school at Santiniketan. Then, he studied art informally under the Abanindranath Tagore and Ganganendranath Tagore.
Mukul Dey was the first Indian etcher, and he made impressive achievements in both landscapes and portraits using this technique. His specialty was drypoint, where he used a sharp needle to create lines on a metal plate, making thousands of cross-hatches. He handled the needle with as much ease as he did with chalk, charcoal, or conte on paper. As a pioneer in intaglio printmaking, he played a key role in popularizing this art form among Indian artists. He was likely the first Indian to use printmaking as a unique form of artistic expression rather than just a method for reproducing images. He also became well-known across India for his portraits of famous people of his time.
Mukul Dey passed away in Kolkata on 1 March, 1989.
