Ranen Ayan Dutt

Ranen Ayan Dutt (November 24, 1927 – March 3, 2024) was an Indian painter, illustrator, muralist, and graphic designer from Kolkata in West Bengal.

Early life Dutt was born in Sylhet, British India (currently Bangladesh), into a Hindu Kayastha family. His father, Rajanimohan Dutt, was a freedom fighter and a teacher at Sanskrit College, Kolkata; his mother, Priyobala, was a homemaker. At an early age, Dutt started with pre-partition Bengal, drawing inspiration from Abanindranath Tagore and Jamini Roy.

Career After graduating, Dutt joined Stronachs India as an art director in Bombay (now Mumbai). On his return to Kolkata, he joined J Walter Thompson (JWT) as its Chief Art Director. The Bengal pavilion later became a permanent structure at Delhi.

Fine art Alongside his commercial work, Dutt maintained a career as a fine artist, creating paintings, murals, graphics, calendar art, and watercolors that often depicted Kolkata's cityscape and everyday life. Among his more notable sketches are "Trafalgar Square" and "Darjeeling Station" This was followed by a retrospective at Galerie88 in Kolkata in 2016. He is not known to have held any solo exhibitions during his active career.

Dutt sought to revive interest in Indian mythology, folklore, and cultural history through his figurative drawings, landscapes, and commercial designs. For instance, his depictions of the Gangasagar Mela scene and his illustrations for the Katha Sarit Sagar series were incorporated into his advertisements for Shalimar hair oil. In an interview, he noted: He painted regularly until his nineties. He was admitted on March 3, 2024 to a nursing home for respiratory problems but died later that night. He was survived by his wife and two daughters.

Legacy

CSSSC, a social science and humanities research and teaching institute in Kolkata, acknowledged Dutt by showcasing various selected artworks in its 2025 commemorative calendar based on the visual archives of the Jadunath Bhavan Museum and Resource Centre (JBMRC), a unit of CSSSC. Dutt's artworks for a 1961 Philips India Ltd calendar on "Boats and Ships" were featured in the calendar.