Anup Ray, a cartoonist and caricaturist par excellence, drew inspiration from his father Jagadish Chandra Dey, a professor of Government College of Arts and Crafts, from which Anup graduated in 1978. After a brief stint in advertising, Anup joined Ananda Bazar Group of Publications in 1979. At first with the magazine New Delhi, edited by Khushwant Singh, Anup returned to Kolkata to join The Telegraph. The newspaper was a good platform for the young artist, where his prowess in portrait drawing, illustration, graphics, and cartooning could be put to good use. Anup drew for all publications of the ABP group and soon made his mark in the arts section of the star-studded team that comprised illustrious cartoonists like Debasish Deb, Krishnendu Chaki, Subrata Chaudhury, Subrata Gangopadhyay, and Sudhir Moitra. Anup also did covers of books brought out by Ananda, the publishing arm of ABP. Literary stalwarts Samaresh Basu, Samaresh Mazumdar, Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Buddhadeb Guha, Syed Mustafa Siraj, and Moti Nandi had their work illustrated by him.
Anup’s forte is caricature. The portraits he drew displayed an amazing likeness to their subjects. Anup’s depiction was life-like and without much distortion, conveying the most representative expression/emotion/ demeanor that his subjects stood for. Endowed with unmatchable skills and a keen political sense, the indispensable prerequisites needed to make it big in the world of cartoons, Anup was all set to take over from eminent veterans Saila Chakraborty and Reboti Bhushan but Ananda Bazar Patrika withdrew editorial and box cartoons. Undeterred, Anup infused his wit and humor in caricatures for op-eds and articles, funny stories etc. A cerebral hemorrhage in 2018 has slowed him down but Anup Ray is still active and a senior and committed member of the cartoonists’ collective Cartoon Dal.
