Ranen Ayan Dutt
Ranen Ayan Dutt was an Indian painter, illustrator, muralist and graphic designer from Kolkata in West Bengal.
Early life
Dutt was born on November 24, 1927, in Sylhet, British India, to a Hindu Kayastha family. His father, Rajanimohan Dutt, was a freedom fighter and a teacher at Sanskrit College, Calcutta. His mother, Priyobala, was a homemaker. Ranen showed artistic proficiency in his early years in the pre-partition of Bengal and was inspired by Abanindranath Tagore and Jamini Roy. After matriculation, Dutt joined the art college at Calcutta in 1942. He graduated from Government College of Art & Craft, Calcutta with distinction of first class in Fine Arts in 1948. His teachers included painters such as Zainul Abedin, Atul Bose, Ramendranath Chakraborti and Anwarul Huq. At the end of his studies at art college, Dutt met Annada Munsi, who helped him get started in commercial art. Dutt worked Munsi's studio 'Prakashika' for a few days. He was also associated with filmmaker Satyajit Ray, who was also trained and mentored by Munsi.Career
Soon after graduating, Dutt joined Stronachs India as Art director in Bombay. On his return to Kolkata, he joined J Walter Thompson as its Chief Art Director. Over two decades, he created several campaigns and promotional material for brands like Tea Board, Tata Steel, Jabakusum and Shalimar hair oil, as well as the campaign Made for Each Other for Wills's Cigarettes.In 1957, Dutt designed book covers and posters for Bengali cinema, including Tapan Sinha's Kabuliwala, andAjoy Kar's Harano Sur. In 1967, he designed posters for Arundhati Devi's Chhuti.'' ''
In 1974, Dutt started his own firm, R.A.D Associates, for expanding his work in architectural and museum design.
Dutt designed pavilions and murals for Tata Steel, Tea Board, and Steel Authority of India. Blending art and architecture, he created a commercial pavilion in 1972 for Asia1972 festival, which drew the attention of Indira Gandhi, who then Prime Minister of India. The Bengal pavilion has become a permanent structure at Delhi. Likewise, landmarks like Air India Building in Mumbai, Exide Industries and the Indian Institute of Coal Management, Ranchi, have been shaped by Dutt's aesthetic. He contributed to the archives of the local head office of the State Bank of India at Stand Road, Kolkata. This has contributed to the financial history of the country.
Besides State Bank of India Archives, he further designed the Shipping Transport Museum, the Earth Science Museum, and the Steel Museum in Durgapur.
Fine Art
Alongside his commercial work, Dutt maintained a career as a fine artist, creating paintings, murals, graphics, calendar art, and watercolor paintings that often depicted Kolkata's cityscape and everyday life. His prominent works in sketches include "Trafalgar Square" and "Darjeeling Station." notable scenes of foreign views of London city-life etc.Dutt's artworks were exhibited in galleries like, Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Golpark, and the Kolkata art gallery in 2015, Galerie88 in Kolkata, which also hosted a retrospective exhibition in 2016 Dutt had no solo shows. His first verified exhibition abroad was at Dag New York in 2021, in two groups shows, titled as Indian Blue: Fro Realism to Abstraction.
Dutt also tried to revive the pride in Indian history of mythology, folk tales and culture in his works of figurative drawings, landscapes and advertising materials. For example, his art works of famous Gangasagar Mela scene, illustration of Katha Sarit Sagar Series found appropriate places in his commercial art works for Shalimar hair oil. He stated in an interview: