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Abanindranath Tagore, Chitrakshar, not mentioned but [Kolkata: Vichitra Press, 1924-25]

65 illustrations in black ink on 24 sheets, printed on one side only of each sheet; oblong quarto album-style binding in black buckram with two string knots and carrying the name of the album [Chitrakshar] and Tagore’s signature in Bengali embossed in gold on front cover.
29 x 21 x 1 cm

Printed label with the name of the album Chitrakshar pasted inside the front cover states it is copy No. 9 of a Limited Edition of 200 copies. The label also bears the ink-stamped Bengali signature of Abanindranath Tagore.

A little-known album on Bengali alphabet depicting each letter as an integral part of an illustration of a bird, animal etc.

The Vichitra Press, founded in early 20th-century Kolkata by the Tagore family, was a pioneering venture in the realm of Indian publishing and art. Spearheaded by Rabindranath Tagore and his nephews, Abanindranath and Gaganendranath Tagore, the press became a crucial platform for the Bengal Renaissance. It produced high-quality, artistically innovative publications, including books, journals, and art portfolios, which showcased the Tagores' literary works, artistic endeavours, and intellectual ideas.

Gaganendranath's Advut Lok, or The Realm of the Absurd, was published in 1917 by Vichitra Sabha and Vichitra Press, lithographed by Sri Harichand Mandal under Gaganendranath's direct supervision. Vichitra Press's second publication was Parvani, a children's Annual with coloured pictorial illustrations. The next book was Bhaur Janmakatha, a story about rice.

The most notable production was Chitrakshar, or The Picture Alphabet, by Abanindranath, published in 1924-25. He experimented with the Bengali alphabet on plain paper with crayon and brush strokes used for illustrations on litho and drawings with pencil lines on zinc plates, which were executed by Abanindranath himself, and Alokendranath, his eldest son, was in attendance throughout for the limited print edition of two hundred.

Motivated by the angularities, curves, and curvilinear forms of the alphabet, Abanindranath employed his brush without constraint to delineate ornate forms. Thus, the initial letter transforms into a bird, while the second becomes an additional long-tailed feathered creature. Hrashai represents a fish, dirghai a half-piscine, half-nutcracker shape, "a" an enlarged shadow of its own shape that spirals within itself, and "oi" the trunk of Oirabat, the elephantine vehicle of Lord Indra. "O" transmutes into makar, half-fish, half-elephant, hrasau transforms into the profile of a turbaned man with a beard, and dirghau becomes a woman adorned with a bun in her hair. Ri transforms into a man sitting on his haunches and li a quaint being who pulls a long face. Each an artistic achievement in the field of graphic design.