Forty-six year old Uttam Bhaskar belongs to a family of highly skilled traditional wood carvers of Natungram village, famed for its eponymous owls. His father was master artist and state award winner, Jibananda Bhaskar and his granduncle, Shambhunath Bhaskar who was a National Awardee.

 

He was about ten or twelve years old when he began training under his father, learning how to carve the simpler dolls like the popular Raja-Rani and Gour Nitai. He advanced to carving the well-known owl a year later and by the time he was fifteen, started learning how to carve the more intricate wooden “models” – exquisite bas relief panels of Durga, Krishna, Dashabotar etc. 

It took him four years of diligent work, under the watchful eyes of his father to master this craft. This style was the brainchild of Prabhas Sen, a noted sculptor and champion of the cause of folk art and crafts throughout his life. Sen, in the sixties, as director of Regional Design Centre, under the (now defunct) All India Handicrafts Board , Government of India, had discovered and begun to actively promote Shambhunath and the craft of Natungram. Only a few artists in Natungram have the skills to carve relief sculptures, all of whom are related to Shambhunath. An exquisite Ravan sculpture that only Jibananda, and after him Uttam could make, (claims Uttam), are a design legacy from Sen as well.  

From the time he was twenty, Uttam started visiting fairs at Kolkata, Santiniketan, Nabadwip and Katwa and also village melas with his father. He still visits melas , where there continues to be a demand for Krishna and Gour Nitai dolls, particularly during religious (Krishna-centric) festivals.  

The simpler dolls are made of inexpensive wood like mango, custard apple and “pituli”, but Uttam prefers to focus on his exquisite relief sculptures on the more expensive “gamarh” wood.  He has trained local youth from his village , who then sell them wholesale in small towns and neighbouring villages.  

Uttam’s family help him with his work: his fifteen year old son has begun training, while his wife helps with the painting. It is the women of Natungram who are in charge of painting the dolls carved by their menfolk. 

Uttam has won numerous prizes but hopes to win a state or national award one day. The current lockdown has left him and so many like him in dire straits. The forced hiatus though, has given him the time to craft more dolls. He hopes fervently that the government will pitch in with some scheme to tide him and his fellow artists of Natungram over. Meanwhile, he is anxiously waiting to sell this six-foot tall Durga that he carved when the Covid lockdown began in early 2020.