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Somnath Hore’s white-on-white works often comprise of frail lines, delicate reliefs, and quiet subtlety. Using hand-cast paper, Hore pressed the paper into molds made from layers of wax and concrete. Such prints pushed the boundaries of printmaking by challenging the medium’s methods and techniques. Reflecting on his white-on-white works, Hore expressed in an interview with Charles Stroh in 1985, “For me, this is a sort of private world where I’m looking for the essence of wounds.” This preoccupation with wounds, suffering, and adversity traverses Hore’s oeuvre.
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for Somnath Hore
Somnath Hore
Bangladesh, 1921 - 2006
Place of BirthBāṁlādesh
BiographyBorn in Chittagong during the British colonial rule in India, Somnath Hore bore witness to rapidly evolving social and political changes. Hore’s prints reveal the human suffering of the Bengal Famine of 1943, the catastrophic bombing of Chittagong in 1942, and the Tebhaga peasant unrest of 1946. His conscientious use of markings, burning, and cutting on the metal plates of his prints allude to the collective traumas of the people of Bengal. Prints from Hore’s Wounds series, like this one, often depict the recurring figure of a frail, catastrophe-stricken figure - the wounds on the body become palpable with the gashes and engravings made by the artist on the plate. Driven by the leftist ideologies of political printmaker Chittoprosad, Hore’s early prints featured in journals of the Communist Party such as Janayuddha and People’s War.Somnath Hore’s white-on-white works often comprise of frail lines, delicate reliefs, and quiet subtlety. Using hand-cast paper, Hore pressed the paper into molds made from layers of wax and concrete. Such prints pushed the boundaries of printmaking by challenging the medium’s methods and techniques. Reflecting on his white-on-white works, Hore expressed in an interview with Charles Stroh in 1985, “For me, this is a sort of private world where I’m looking for the essence of wounds.” This preoccupation with wounds, suffering, and adversity traverses Hore’s oeuvre.
United States, born 1954
