Chintamoni Kar was a renowned Indian sculptor. He first trained at Abanindranath Tagore's Oriental Art Society and learnt sculpting from Giridhari Mahapatra of Orissa and Victor Giovanelli of Italy. In 1938, Kar went to Paris to improve his sculpting technique and then to London in 1946. He was a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors. Kar won the silver medal for sculpting at the 1948 London Olympics. Kar returned to West Bengal in 1956.
Kar was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1972. In 2000, he was awarded France’s highest civilian honour - conferred on him by the country’s ambassdor.
Published works:
Classical Indian Sculpture, 300 BC to 500 (London: A Tiranti, 1950)
Indian Metal Sculpture (London: A. Tiranti, 1952)
Chintamoni Kar, with an introduction by Mulk Raj Anand (New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi, 1965)
Kar, Chintamoni and Mukherjee, Tinkari, A Short Guide Book. Art Section, Indian Museum, Calcutta (Calcutta, 1958)