I first met Jogen Chowdhury in 1979, when I was doing my masters in Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan, and he had come to the department as an external examiner for a batch of Bachelor of Fine Arts students. I was introduced to him by my professor, Sarbari Roy Chowdhury. My first impression was of an easygoing, informal man. He wore a simple kurta-pyjama, was easy to connect to, and was not interested in protocol. He wanted to meet Santiniketan’s legend Ramkinkar Baij, and I took him to meet Kinkar da.In 1981, when I came to Delhi for a fellowship, senior artist Himmat Shah invited me to visit Jogen da, who at this point lived in the President’s Estate. He had been the curator (the word used at that time was ‘keeper’) of the art collection of the Rashtrapati Bhavan since 1972. He took care of all the artwork, took decisions on their restoration, etc. Those were days when there was not much by way of an art market, nor a buzzing exhibition scene. Artists pursued their work while earning through related means. Before this job, Jogen da had been a designer with the Handloom Board and later, in 1987, he joined Kala Bhavana as a professor of painting. I appreciated how he managed to have a full-time job and also keep pursuing his art, something that can only be done with a lot of passion.Jogen Chowdhury with artist Madhavi Parekh. Photo: Musui Art FoundationOver the years I realised how Jogen da had a special talent for putting people together and getting them involved in the service of collective activities. He was also in active dialogue with artists in Delhi, Baroda and Kolkata. This kind of energy and dynamism always made me think of him as a people’s person. An artist who not only created art, but also tried to improve the context for artists, or improve the institutions around him, with whatever resources or contacts he had.In particular, I appreciated how he involved the artists and teachers of Kala Bhavan and gave life to the organisation SSVAD – Santiniketan Society of Visual Art and Design. It was the first centre of its kind in Santiniketan: an artists’ collective independent of the university, which could provide space and support for artistic activities. It offered studio spaces for artists, sculptors, and printmakers; galleries to exhibit; common activity spaces; as well as art camps, residencies, and cultural programmes. I appreciated this collective approach very much and Jogen da was just the right person to have facilitated it. I always remember him with people — planning programmes, attending events, discussing possibilities, and engaging everyone, from his Kala Bhavana colleagues and students to potential sponsors. Though he lived in Kolkata, he used to come to Santiniketan very often, in particular for organising and facilitating SSVAD activities.A strong presence of artists at a session of the Santiniketan Society of Visual Art and Design of which Jogen Chowdhury was the driving force.(Left to right standing): Manu Parekh, Madhavi Parekh, actor Soumitra Chatterjee, artist Shahabuddin from Bangladesh, N S Harsha, Atin Basak and Dilip Mitra; (left to right sitting) Krishnamachari Bose, Jogen Chowdhury, Goutam Das, Arghapriya Majumdar, and KS Radhakrishnan.It was in 2012 that we both started working together more closely as nominated members of the Executive Council of Visva-Bharati University. We worked together for three years and I remember our unanimity on issues like how to improve the quality of the students’ and teachers’ lives and working spaces, how to improve hygiene, sanitation, security as well as academic quality, and develop infrastructure towards these aims. We found a lot of common ground and it was a very cordial working relationship. He felt, as did I, that it was not enough to look critically at the administration of the university from a distance. We should be a part of things from inside and try to make a positive intervention in the system. I think this must have been the driving force behind his public life.In 2019, we celebrated 100 years of Kala Bhavana, for which I curated the centenary exhibition. Jogen da was very encouraging and appreciative of the work and was an active presence in releasing the catalogue brought out for the occasion. He was similarly encouraging at the time of my putting together the Somnath Hore’s centenary exhibition. After he visited the show, we spent some time over a drink in my studio and I remember the involvement and graciousness with which he went over the accompanying volume on Somnath Hore page by page.The opening of the celebrations of the 100 years of the Kala Bhavana. Photo: Musui Art Foundation.He was justly recognised as a leading contemporary artist with an individual working style. His signature style, the cross-hatching technique he used to create depth and substance, was a painstaking process requiring a lot of dedication and patience. The element of distortion he introduced in his figurative art also made him a remarkable voice. The scars you can see in his paintings invite in-depth inquiry. But these techniques, which made him unique, never overshadowed the emotional content of his work. He gave an extraordinary feel to ordinary subjects. He kept working, practising, drawing, regardless of all the other work that he was engaged in. I also appreciated ‘Charubasona’, the Kolkata museum he founded to display an excellent representative collection of his work, which is open to the public.Jogen Chowdhury with K.G. Subramanyan. Photo: Musui Art FoundationIt makes me feel sad that so many artists from that senior generation (such as Ganesh Pyne and Shyamal Dutta Ray) are nearly all gone now. After Jogen Chowdhury, perhaps only Ganesh Haloi is left. It feels like a big vacuum. Jogen da was an artist, writer, teacher, and politically engaged citizen. I admire him for all that he did for the betterment of Visva-Bharati and of Santiniketan’s artists, and for his collective approach in such activities – all while remaining a tremendously talented artist who continued working till the end.K.S. Radhakrishnan is a sculptor and curator based in Delhi and Santiniketan.