2015. Alain Bonnefoit in his atelier in Montmartre, Paris. His distinctive style is characteristically sensuous with elegant depictions of the female form. I met him when I was a sweeper in the lithography printshop in Cachan, Paris. He helped organise my first exhibition in Paris in 1974, just a year after I arrived in France. He bought 2 of my paintings which was very helpful at that time when I was tight on funds. He has remained an artist friend till today.
When India was partitioned 1947 to create Pakistan, a new country for Muslims, about 20 million people of Bengal and Punjab were displaced and brutally victimized. Sen’s wealthy, literate family had huge landed property in erstwhile East Bengal, the present Bangladesh, which was carved out to be East Pakistan for Muslims. So for being Hindus Sen’s family was overnight evicted from their home. Without taking any possessions, they fled for their lives amidst people warring over religion, and so became squatted refugees in West Bengal.
