| Ray as Poster Designer |
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Split Woman : Blue part of the face reflects the complexion of the
goddess Kali
while
the other of a
human being.
THE GODDESS |
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Satyajit Ray was a man of multiple talents. Not only did he write the screenplays for all his films and score the music for all but his first five films, he was also a prolific, best selling author and a consummate artist. He came from a family of artists, designers, illustrators, musicians, poets and writers.
He had a natural talent for sketching which was further finessed in Western-style figure drawing and painting. At Rabindranath Tagore's art school in Santiniketan, he was exposed to the great traditions of Indian art, both classical and folk.
Equally important, he developed special skills in calligraphy using the Japanese technique. |
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The sequestered housewife faces the outside world : THE HOME AND THE WORLD |
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THE UNVANQUISHED
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His art education led him to his first job as a professional visualizer and designer at a British ad agency in Calcutta, where he was credited with creating a revolution in India's commercial art, giving it a new form and structure that combined aesthetics and functionality without sacrificing artistic expression. |
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| The shadow of the hero towers over the other
characters of the film:
THE HERO |
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The lonely wife breaks down :
THE LONELY WIFE |
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DAYS AND NIGHTS IN THE FOREST |
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The love between Apu and his wife was intense but short-lived : THE WORLD OF APU |
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Satyajit Ray brought to bear his considerable skills as a graphic designer in making posters for his films. There are over one hundred such posters in the Ray Family Archive in Calcutta. Many are in extremely fragile, brittle condition. They are now being restored by the Satyajit Ray Society for preservation.
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At the ad agency, Ray used to design newspaper and magazine campaigns.
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| THE HERO |
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THE BIG CITY |
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He expanded on this experience to design posters, billboards, credits and titles for his films.
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THE COWARD |
AND
THE HOLY MAN |
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A shot fired from a revolver indicates the nature of the mystery film :
THE ELEPHANT GOD |
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He had already set an innovative new trend in book cover designs, especially with his inimitable skills in inventing new letter forms through his calligraphy. He introduced a variety of typefaces both in Bengali and English. |
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He freely used modern European inventions and traditional Indian and Asian forms to create a unique fusion in poster art. |
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