Born in Howrah in West Bengal in 1929, he was the son of a mechanical draughtsman, running a family business of manufacturing milling machinery. In 1941, he injured his knee and got confined to bed. It was during his days of convalescence that he took to drawing and painting World war II cast a shadow over his childhood as he was taken to a remote village to recover. The 1943 Bengal famine had a deep impact on him. In 1949, communal riots broke down in Calcutta and he was greatly affected by the mass slaughter and looting.
His exposure to such trials and tribulations of human beings at such an early age had a deep impact on his works. And his works became an exploration of the grotesque to express human turmoil and inner struggle. For Robin Mondal, it was not the beauty and stereotypical aestheticism of art that attracted him but the ability of art to convey human pain in all its bare rawness.
Rabin Mondal`s Cubo-Futuristic angularities of form and his arrangement of pictorial space in relation to them helped him evolve a series of highly individuated human figures. His repertory of humans is essentially experimental in origin. They came out of his growing abhorrence towards man`s moral decay in all spheres of life. He has imaginatively used the thick pigment for the gem-like incandescence of the stained-glass effect we see in George Rouault.
His works were first displayed in 1955, as part of a group exhibition alongwith other leading artists of Bengal school. During 1956-58, he worked as an Art Director for two films in Calcutta. In 1962, he travelled extensively around south India. In 1964, he formed the Calcutta Painters Group alongwith Bijan Chowdhury, Gopal Sanyal, Nikhil Biswas, ProkashKarmakar, RonionRoodra, Gumbritt and Bimal Banerjee. In, 1969 he was elected Joint Secretary, Calcutta Art Fair. In 1970, he dited `Drawings by Fourteen Contemporary Artists’. .
The artist passed way in 2019.
Education
1959 Completed his Art Appreciation Course, Ashutosh Museum, Kolkata University, Kolkata.
1956-58 Attended Evening Classes, Indian College of Art and Draughtmanship, Kolkata.
1952 Bachelor of Commerce, Vidyasagar College, Kolkata University, Kolkata.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2016 'Kingdom of Exile: A Retrospective', DAG Modern, New York
2014-15 'Kingdom of Exile: A Retrospective', Delhi Art Gallery, Mumbai
1999 Alternative Art Gallery, Kolkata
1993 Little Art Gallery, Kolkata
1993 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1991 L.T.G. Art Gallery, New Delhi
1990 Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai
1989 Taj Art Gallery, Mumbai
1987 Art Heritage, New Delhi
1987 Chitrakoot Art Gallery, Kolkata
1984 Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata
1983 Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi
1982 Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi
1980 Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai
1980 Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata
1979 Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata
1978 Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata
1977 Triveni Gallery, New Delhi
1976 French Cultural Centre, Kolkata
1974 Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi
1973 Gallery Chemould, Kolkata
1971 Gallery Chemould, Kolkata
1966 Priyadarshini Gallery, Kolkata
1965 Artistry House, Kolkata
1963 Arts and Prints Gallery, Kolkata
1961 Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata
Selected Group Exhibitions
2010 'The Living Insignia', Gallery Ensign, New Delhi
2010 'Pretty Ugly', Bose Pacia, Kolkata 2009 'The Root of Everything', Gallery Mementos, Bangalore
2008 'Frame Figure Field: 20th Century Modern and Contemporary Indian Art', Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
2007 'Still Life: Adaptation in 20th Century Indian Art', Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
2006 'The Naked Line: Drawings by 12 Artists', Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
2002 The Gallery Chemould, Kolkata
2002 Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata
2002 Osian’s Exhibition and Auction, Mumbai
2001 Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata
2001 Exhibition and Auction at Art for Heart’s Sake, Mumbai
2000 The Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata
1999 The Alternative Art Gallery, Kolkata
1998 ‘10th Anniversary Exhibition of Contemporary Painters’, organized by the Centre Art Gallery, Kolkata
1998 Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai
1996 LTG Art Gallery, New Delhi
1996 ‘Water Colors from West Bengal’, organized by Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Mumbai
1995 Galerie La Mere, Kolkata
1994 L.T.G. Art Gallery, New Delhi
1993 Little Art Gallery, New Delhi
1992 Contemporary Indian Art, Dhaka, Bangladesh
1989 Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust Exhibition, New Delhi
1989 Taj Art Gallery, Mumbai
1988 Art for Cry , Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore
1988 Gallerie 88, Kolkata
1985 Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1985 The Calcutta Information Centre and Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1983 Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata
1983 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1982 Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1981 Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1980 Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1980 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1980 ‘Miniature Format Exhibition’, organized by Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1979 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1979 Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi
1978 Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata
1978 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1976 Max Mueller Bhavan, Kolkata
1976 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1975 Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata
1975 Shridaharani Gallery, New Delhi
1975 Alliance Francaise, Kolkata
1974 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1973 Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1972 Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata
1972 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1972 Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan
1971 Calcutta Information Center, Kolkata
1971 Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1970 Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata
1969 Calcutta Information Center, Kolkata
1969 All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi
1968 Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan
1965 Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1964 Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1964 All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society Gallery, New Delhi
1963 Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1955 Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata
Participations
2013 'The Naked and the Nude: The Body in Indian Modern Art', Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi 2011 ‘Manifestations VI', Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
2011 ‘Manifestations V', Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
2010 'Manifestations IV', Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
2009 Annual Exhibition, La-Mere, Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture, Kolkata
2005 'Manifestations III', organized by Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi at Nehru Centre, Mumbai and Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
2004 'Manifestations II', organized by Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai and Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
2003 'Manifestations I', organized by Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi at World Trade Centre, Mumbai and Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
1998 '10th Anniversary of Calcutta Painters', Kolkata
1996 5th All India Veteran Artists Exhibition, New Delhi
1984 Tokyo Biennale, Japan
1975 3rd Triennale, New Delhi
1963,64,65 National Exhibition, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi and Kolkata
Honours and Awards
2001 AbanindranathPuraskar, awarded by the Department of Information and Culture, Government of West Bengal, Kolkata
1996 ‘Eminent Painter’, All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi
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