DEY, MUKUL (Artist) / [HEDIN, SVEN - PORTRAIT]. — [Original dry-point impression by Mukul Dey. Berlin ca 1926].

Original dry-point impression of Sven Hedin, signed by Mukul Dey in pencil, on very fine paper. Size: 15 x 19 cm. Mounted in a passe-partout. The original copper-plate was inscribed by Sven Hedin and appears as a mirror image. Mukul Dey visited Hedin in Berlin in 1926 and we believe this etching was made then. Mukul Chandra Dey (1895-1989), Indian painter and engraver, was a student of Rabindranath Tagore's Santiniketan School during the early years of the 20th century. He travelled abroad to be able to study printmaking as an art. He went to Japan, America and England and he came to concentrate on drypoint etching. He is remembered for his images of Bengaqli villagers but also for his portraits of various famous men, such as Tagore, Einstein, Gandhi and Sven Hedin. Mukul Dey visited Hedin in Berlin in 1926 and we believe this etching was made then. Provenance: Archeologist Ashok Mitra, who used to live in Uttar para near Calcutta.