Annada Munsi

He is credited with demolishing British monopoly in the field of modern Indian advertising establishing Swadeshi culture instead. He is considered the undisputable Father of Commercial Art in India.

Annada Munsi
Born	(1905-11-27)27 November 1905 Born Annada Munshi Shivnagar, Pabna, British India (present day Bangladesh)
Died	14 January 1985(1985-01-14) (aged 79) Paikpara, Kolkata
Nationality	Indian
Alma mater	Government College of Art and Craft, Calcutta
Known for	Painting and calligraphy
Notable work	Tea is 100% Swadeshi Tea Fights Fatigue Lord Gouranga Travels
Movement	Commercial art and modern Indian advertising
Spouse	Jayati Munshi
Children	6 including Kumkum Munshi and Manto Munshi
Relatives	Pratip Munshi (cousin) Manu Munshi (brother)

He was also an avid musician with prolific knowledge in playing multiple musical instruments like violin, piano, harmonium etc. along with knowledge in Indian and western classical music.

Munshi was born in Shivnagar, Pabna of Bengal Presidency (present day in Bangladesh) to renowned artist Anukul Munshi and Pranmohoni Devi on 27 November in the year 1905. He completed his primary education from Chowgachha village followed by his higher education in Pabna where he got involved in the Indian independence movement with inspirations from Mahatma Gandhi's Nonviolent resistance. In 1930, he came to Calcutta to enrol himself into the then Government Art School (presently Government College of Art and Craft) under Percy Brown, renowned Art Historian. But, utmost financial crisis led him to drop out from the Art School and consequently start his career as a Shepherd Designer in the Army Navy Stores in Calcutta.

Munshi started his career at the Army Navy Stores in Calcutta as a Shepherd designer. Then he moved to Bombay (present day Mumbai) in 1935. There, he started working in the Times of India's advertising department. In addition to this employment, he used to sing Swadeshi Jagaran at Prabhat Ferry and also Rabindra Sangeet at Aakashvani's Bombay centre once a month. Along with being a skilled commercial artist, he also excelled in fine arts and sketching scenes for films. As a result of his success, he was appointed as a visualizer by the global advertising agency "DJ Keymer" and came back to Calcutta.

 

Here he mentored his the then assistant Satyajit Ray, along with O. C. Ganguly, Raghunath Goswami, Makhan Dutta Gupta and so on. Here, he became especially well-known for his notable works in tea board (for example, Tea is 100% Swadeshi and Tea Fights Fatigue), and railway advertisings (for example, Lord Gouranga Travels). In 1948, again he was appointed as the Art Director of a Mumbai-based Advertising agency called Sisters' Limited and relocated in Mumbai. He retired as the Art Director of Publicity Forum in Kolkata where he mentored noted commercial artists like Ranen Ayan Dutt and Ahibhusan Malik.

 

Some of Munshi's notable works are:

• Tea is 100% Swadeshi (1947) where he demolished the British monopoly in the Indian advertising industry and established Swadeshi culture instead.

   

• Tea Fights Fatigue (1948)

   

• Lord Gouranga Travels

Munshi also invented the technique of using rubber solution in his paintings along with various colour combinations. The principal characteristics of his paintings were simplicity and brightness which even grabbed the attention of Pablo Picasso, renowned Spanish painter and sculptor. Some of his paintings acquired place within personal collections of Pandit Ravi Shankar and Yehudi Menuhin.

In 1978, the book named Crucified India (in Bengali accent: Krushbiddha Bharat) authored by Munshi, which was dedicated to his junior and colleague Satyajit Ray, was published.

 

Munshi died at the age of 79 on 14 January 1985 at Paikpara, Kolkata, India.