Manishi Dey

Who is Manishi Dey?

Manishi Dey was an Indian painter of the Bengal school of art. He was born in Dhaka on 22. September 1909 and died on 31. January 1966 in Kolkata. He was the younger brother of Mukul Dey, a pioneering Indian teacher and engraver.

Manishi Dey was one of the most versatile students of Abanindranath Tagore’s Bengal school of art, whose close students also included Nandalal Bose, Asit Kumar Haldar, Sarada Ukil, Mukul Dey, K. Venkatappa and Jamini Roy. He travelled tirelessly throughout the Indian subcontinent in search of varied and newer visual idioms.

Dey was a member of the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group, which was most influential on modern Indian painting. He was a finished artist in 'Indian Painting' and water colour 'Wash' technique, and later in his career embraced cubist art and a variety of media. He interacted closely with artists like M. F. Husain, Sailoz Mookherjea and Shantanu Ukil in New Delhi during late-1940s and early-1950s. Dey was one of the major contributors and transformers of Modern Indian Art.

His first solo show in Calcutta was held in 1928, and his works were exhibited in many cities during his time.