His first job was as an art teacher at a non-Bengali school in North Calcutta.[citation needed] During this time, he also accepted many art commissions to support his family, while continuing to regularly participate in art shows.[citation needed]
Dasgupta developed his own style in his paintings and drawings. Previously, he painted in oil, but now mainly works in ink, pastel, and acrylic color.[3]
His first solo exhibition was organized at the Birla Academy. Other solo exhibitions took place at the Laxman Art Gallery, Lalit Kala Academy, Chitrakoot, and the Academy of Fine Arts, Calcutta. In 2004, he held his first solo exhibition abroad at Gallery Hansmania (Norway) and later at Club Bangladesh (Sweden). Dasgupta has also participated in many group exhibitions throughout India and abroad, such as at Aakriti Art Gallery, Birla Academy, Academy of Fine Arts, Calcutta, Jehangir Art Gallery, AIFACS, Kamalnayan Bajaj Art Gallery, India Habitat Centre, Nehru Centre, Lokayata Art Gallery, Chemould Art Gallery, Mulk Raj Anand Centre, and various other places. His paintings have been exhibited in South Korea, London, Paris and Canada. In 2010, he was invited to NABC, hosted by Kallol, a non-profit socio-cultural organization of Bengalis, in New Jersey. His last solo exhibition was organized by the Tagore Society at Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay in 2011, a 60,000 square metres (6.0 ha) performing arts center located in Marina Bay, Singapore.
1969–1971
In 1969, seven former students from Jahar and Baroda Art College, Santiniketan, formed a group named Painters' Orchestra, now one of the oldest art groups in India. Since that time, Jahar Dasgupta has regularly participated in the group's shows. His first solo exhibition was organized in Birla Art and Culture Kolkata, West Bengal. He developed his own style of expression at the beginning of the 1970s, after a period of apprenticeship during the 1960s.
1971–1980
The political turmoil from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, including the rise of the leftist movement in the fold of CPI(ML) and the Bangladesh liberation war of 1971, affected creative persons and influenced Dasgupta's creative expression. In this early phase, his paintings often revealed reality in its crudest form, such as an acrylic canvas of 1994 titled 'Scrap' which shows clusters of dilapidated human bodies tied together on a crate being pulled up by a crane.
1981–1999
1975 work 'End of an era' by Jahar Dasgupta
Dasgupta experimented with various subjects and styles. Works such as 'End of an Era', 'Genocide', 'Waiting for Godot', 'Dark Side of Civilization', Series 'Confrontation', and 'Shelter' reflect anger, while the 'Mermaid' series, 'Fall of Radhika' series, and 'Eternal Love' series depict beauty. His paintings at that time explored the duality between ideal and real, good and evil, and light and dark.
During this era, Jahar mainly focused on nature, animals, and women. The drawings were mostly done in monochrome dry pastel. The canvases in acrylic focused on aspects of beauty, revealing the nature of rural Bengal and transforming the natural into the supernatural.
Sandip Ray, who filmed Himghar in 1996, met Dasgupta and expressed interest in a documentary about the artist. In 2001, he completed the documentary, 'Bornomoy Jahar', and screened it at Nandan.
2010–present
An untitled work by Jahar Dasgupta
While attending a talk entitled 'Nadir Bhabna' (Musings of the River) by Shri Alokeranjan Dasgupta, Jahar Dasgupta had an experience that inspired him and introduced him to the philosophy of Henri Bergson (1894–1941). Dasgupta's current work reflects Bergson's philosophy, blending science and art.
Dasgupta was inspired by the Aristotelian 'entelechy' – the endowment that gives rise to the potential of the vital force. In Dasgupta's depiction of humans, birds, beasts, and insects, he understands that every moment changes and leaves its mark, without changing the outward form.
Dasgupta's recent work includes the 'Jesus Christ' series and a mural on MADHABI daughter of yayati from Mahabharata.
Dasgupta is the former President of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kolkata where he lives and works, and a retired principal of the Swarsangam-Birla Institute of Visual and Performing Arts, Kolkata.
Politics
In the 1970s, like many in the art and cultural field in West Bengal, Dasgupta was attracted to leftist ideologies and attached to Gananatya Sangha. He stood twice in the Panchayet vote under left-wing parties at Madhyamgram North 24 Parganas in 1974 and 1984.
