Ganesh Haloi was born in Jamalpur, Mymensingh, now in Bangladesh in 1936. He moved to Calcutta after the Partition in 1950. The trauma of the uprooting left its mark on his work as it did on some other painters of his generation. He graduated from the Government College of Art and Craft in Calcutta in 1956. The next year he joined the Archaeological Survey of India to make copies of the Ajanta murals. After seven years' involvement in the work, Haloi returned to work in Calcutta. He taught at the Government College of Art and Craft since 1963 till his retirement. Since 1971, he has been a member of the Society of Contemporary Artists.The experience of Ajanta influenced Haloi profoundly. His work was marked by lyricism. Haloi worked in many mediums and initially painted figures in landscapes. The mood was inevitable poignant. Gradually, Haloi moved towards landscapes. A sense of nostalgia for a lost world pervaded these paintings. Eventually, Haloi turned to abstract renderings of landscapes. Dots, dashes, lines became cryptic signs for trees, water, green fields.

‘Subtle and sublime’ explains the very essence of these works. The works share in character the fine elements of Far-Eastern visual register. The superb balance of line and colour reflects on the virtuosity of the artist. At a glance both the works bring into the mind objective references but a closer view negates them all. What remains is an abstract sensation. In one work it is momentum while on the other it is tranquility.

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