May 5-October 11. Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Fridays, and Saturdays, 10 a.m.
to 5 p.m.; and Sundays, 1-5 p.m. Ireland's
Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University presents its newest
exhibition, "Sketching a Famine: Chittaprosad in India."
A
self-taught artist, poet, storyteller, and an active member of the
Communist Party of India, Chittaprosad Bhattacharya
drew inspiration for his art from village sculptors, artisans and
puppeteers. In 1943-44, he experienced the Bengal famine firsthand,
resulting in his brutally honest depiction of human suffering in stark
drawings and sketches made in pen and ink. These drawings
and reports were published in the Communist journal "People's War," and
culminated in Hungry Bengal, an eyewitness report comprised of written
text and profuse sketches in stark black-and-white, copies of which were
seized and destroyed by the British.
A
self-conscious, reflective testimony, the drawings and caricatures of
this period were a forceful outcry against
the tyranny of domination, an indictment of prevailing conditions and
an appeal on behalf of the laboring poor and the marginalized. The 1943-44 Bengal Famine saw an estimated three million people starve to death or die of disease. The
museum, located at 3011 Whitney Ave., is home to the world's largest
collection of visual art, artifacts and
printed materials relating to the Irish Famine. The museum preserves,
builds and presents its art collection in order to stimulate reflection,
inspire imagination and advance awareness of Ireland's Great Hunger and
its long aftermath on both sides of the Atlantic.
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