Surendranath Kar

Born in 1892 in Haveli Kharagpur under Munger District of Bihar in British India, Kar did his primary learning of art under his cousin, renowned Bengali painter, Nandalal Bose, and later under Abanindranath Tagore, the nephew of Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore. It was Bose who in 1911 took the 19 year old Kar to Abanindranath who not only advised the teenager to take up painting but taught him elementary drawing under his own guidance. Later in 1915, he joined Vichitra Club, founded by the Tagore family, as a teacher of art as also helping organise the club's activities. During this period, Lord Carmichael, the then Governor of Bengal bought a few of the works done by Kar. Kar also actively assisted Abanindranath and Nandalal in helping the newly founded Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Institute building in Calcutta to fulfil its artistic aspects. In 1917, when Tagore set up Brahmacharyasrama, the precursor of later day Shantiniketan, he joined the institution as per Tagore's wish and worked as an art teacher. Two years later, he moved to Kala Bhavana of Tagore as a faculty member.