Untitled set of 4/4

This executed in ink on paper during the 1950s, encapsulates a period of Indian modernism characterized by a deep negotiation between structure, symbolism, and the emerging aesthetic of independent India. This intimate work demonstrates the artist’s mastery of minimal means, line, light, and form, to evoke an architectural and psychological landscape. The subject of the lighthouse, rendered through disciplined linework and measured spatial relationships, reveals Gupta’s engagement with modernist formalism while simultaneously embedding metaphorical resonance within the simplicity of ink drawing.

The central motif of the tall, tapering lighthouse is emblematic of strength, stability, and transcendence. Rising vertically from a horizontal expanse, it becomes a visual and conceptual axis around which the composition is anchored. Gupta’s precise draftsmanship, seen in the delicate modulation of line weight and spatial proportion, reflects his grounding in academic realism, yet his approach transcends mere representation. The ink medium allows for a remarkable economy of expression: the stark interplay between the monument’s verticality and the surrounding emptiness creates an atmosphere that is both monumental and meditative. Gupta’s work resists pure abstraction; his landscapes and architectural studies remain deeply human in scale and spirit. The inclusion of small figures at the base of the lighthouse introduces a narrative dimension, emphasizing the relationship between human fragility and monumental permanence, a recurring theme in Gupta’s oeuvre.

The dynamic treatment of the sky, articulated through vigorous and gestural ink strokes, contrasts with the structural clarity of the lighthouse. This tension between order and movement evokes a dialectic between nature and man-made form, stability and flux, an idea central to mid-20th-century modernist thought. The distant cluster of buildings anchors the scene within a lived environment, subtly integrating human habitation into an otherwise symbolic composition. This work can be viewed as part of Bimal Das Gupta’s ongoing exploration of solitude, resilience, and the metaphysical dimensions of architecture. Through the disciplined medium of ink, Gupta transforms a simple coastal monument into a poetic meditation on guidance, endurance, and the human condition, an elegant synthesis of modernist formal inquiry and timeless spiritual metaphor.