(1921 - 2006)
Somnath Hore was born in Barama, a village in Chittagong, in present day Bangladesh, in 1921. He attended the Government College of Art and Craft, Kolkata, where he learnt various printmaking techniques. Hore held several teaching posts, including lecturer at Indian College of Art & Draughtsmanship in Kolkata, head of the graphic department at the Delhi College of Arts, visiting professor at M.S. University, Baroda, and head of the graphic art department of Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharati University at Santiniketan where he eventually settled. Hore’s work has been exhibited widely in India and abroad, in cities like Venice, Sao Paulo, Tokyo and Warsaw. He won the Lalit Kala Ratna Puraskar from the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, in 2004; National Awards from the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, in 1960, 62 and 63; and the Gagan Abani Award, Kolkata, in 1984. The artist passed away at Santiniketan in 2006.