New Delhi, Aug 11 - More than 70 works by early master of Indian contemporary art Bikash Bhattacharya will be shown for the first time since his death in 2006 in a major retrospective exhibition at the Aakriti Art Gallery in Kolkata Aug 17-Sep 9 and at the Vadehra Gallery in the capital Oct 6-Nov 5.

Bhattacharya was credited with bringing back life-like realism in modern art in the 1960s and 70s that helped the common man identify with art as a tool of mass communication. He painted the angst of those living on the fringe of the society.

Bhattacharya was known for his ability to show the psychological undercurrents of human beings.

'The reason for organising the retrospective is to explore what he contributed to the life of the man on the streets. The works that include a wide range of mediums like oil, acrylic, pastel, mixed media and some graphic prints covers a period between 1950 and 2000,' Vikram Bachhawat, director of the Aakriti Art Gallery, told IANS on phone from Kolkata.

Bhattacharya stopped painting in 2000 after a paralytic stroke.

The exhibition, Bachhawat said, will also feature photographs of Bhattacharya, his associates and his friends. The art works will be exhibited in different sections, each representing a decade and the changes that crept into his style and themes down the years.