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Refugee Nightmare

The Illustrated Weekly of India, December 3, 1950
(The accompanying illustrations are from the original article)


Refugee Series Manishi Dey

Down-to-earth realism – that is the keynote in the latest work of Manishi Dey, who now appears to have reached a turning point in his creativity.

He came into contact with Abanindranath Tagore and became a pupil of the great master.

During the past 20 years – he is 42 – Manishi has expressed himself in a wide range of styles. His early days at school at Santiniketan were too fretful to be preparatory. Conventions cramped him, made him mutinous. It might have ended in a waste of potential power, and bitter frustration. But luck favoured the youngster. He came into contact with Abanindranath Tagore and became a pupil of the great master.

Abanindranath was great teacher as well, a very human teacher, who took infinite pains with his pupils. He did not impose on them his own ideas and idiom.

Refugee Series Manishi Dey

In India’s art history Abanindranath’s place is unique. Not only has he been unsurpassed, not only was he the moving spirit of renaissance in Indian art, but he was great teacher as well, a very human teacher, who took infinite pains with his pupils. He did not impose on them his own ideas and idiom. He let them develop on an individual line. His influence was directed to bring out the best in them all.


Refugee Series
Manishi Dey

That was the beginning of Manishi. Then, having attained technique, he gave himself awhile to wander-lust, seeing life,seeking his themes in the book of life.

Even in those early days he could not be classified as belonging to this school or that – for orthodoxy was alien to his art and tradition was his terror.
He was fascinated by the human form in movement, and many of his early paintings, those of Santhal dancers, for instance, reveal this pre-occupation. Even in those early days he could not be classified as belonging to this school or that – for orthodoxy was alien to his art and tradition was his terror.

He is at his best when his art mirrors his restless nature, which could not concentrate long on a theme.

He has had no love for the art of “decorative” kind, yet he has done it remarkably well. He has produced painstaking work, with finesse. However, he is at his best when his art mirrors his restless nature, which could not concentrate long on a theme, and brush work is reduced to the minimum essentials amounting to a sort of austerity.

Manishi has been rendering on canvas the spiritual history of vast masses of people, the uprooted of East Bengal.

In his new refugee pictures, four of which are reproduced here, that austerity attains its true depth and power. Symbolism is inherent in the technique. But the style is only attuned to the theme. It is the theme that stands out in significance. Manishi has been rendering on canvas the spiritual history of vast masses of people, the uprooted of East Bengal.

Eyeballs do not have to glint or soften – closed eyelids grow strangely eloquent.

Refugee Series
Manishi Dey
He depicts a story of agony too deep for tears, but not agony alone. There is gamut of passions – the shame of dishonour, resignation, the prayer for the right to live, the hardening of vengefulness. Eyeballs do not have to glint or soften – closed eyelids grow strangely eloquent. In lines and in colour there is complete freedom from sentimentality.

It remains to be seen whether this turning point in Manishi Dey’s work is real or illusive. Is it a passing phase super imposed by emotional stress? Or, is it the promise of a new richening to come?

Manishi Dey, one of the most versatile students of Abanindranath Tagore’s Bengal School, was a born rebel and a bohemian who drifted away, forever in search of varied and newer visual idioms. Read 'An Introduction to Artist Manishi Dey'.



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