Sunil Madhav Sen - UNTITLED(Man with a Beard)

Sunil Madhav Sen (1910 - 1979)

Mixed Media on paper

27 x 17 Inches

This painting reflects Sunil Madhav Sen’s expertise in putting together local ritual memory with modernist experiments. The angular, mask-like face here recalls the African tribal masks that inspired European masters like Picasso, whom Sen studied closely. But is equally rooted in the clay idols and village deities he first saw in Bankura as a boy.

The figure’s crown-like head gear, and sculptural lines echo Sen’s early fascination with folk rituals and unfinished clay forms, shaped under the quiet influence of local artisans like Ananta Patua. By the 1960s–70s, Sen’s layered surfaces, fractured outlines and Cubist geometry marked his personal blend of folk craft and global modernism, always grounded in the textured spirit of Rarh Bengal.