patna the then renowned lone painter of this region upendra maharathi rose from strength to strength yet his contemporary manoranjan ghosh initially a student of the murshidabad school of art and a painter who had mastered the art of frescoes in oil is largely unsung today his birth centenary yeargreatly influenced by the one of the trinity of high renaissance raphael ghosh was a versatile genius a seasoned painter adopting various modes like oil and water colours available with great difficulty then he had his very own novel technique which he had derived from the works of raphaelghosh was also a seasoned black and white photographer with a masterly capability of making sketches of various kindsghosh started off his career in 1933 after setting up a studio opposite patna college on ashok rajpath drawing from the sociocultural traditions of undivided bihar natures scenic beauty and prevailing social customs sadly he left no archival records of his works his son rajat ghosh a renowned sculptor is now making efforts to preserve his fathers priceless treasurehis paintings were then purchased by almost all the elite class people people like nawab mohiuddin khan maulana koawal all played a seminal role in the making of this artistic geniusi am now trying to preserve and protect my fathers work though he himself did not make any effort to exhibit or preserve them three months ago i wrote a letter to the state government for exhibiting my fathers work but i am yet to get any response said ghoshin fact preserving his paintings and photographs is a monumental task in itself as age is catching up so are termites silver fish and the vagaries of weather i fervently appeal to the government to extend a helping hand to us in preserving this cultural heritage of bihar so that the younger generation of painters can learn from his style and technique said ghoshmany of his paintings can still be found in high court civil court bar council and sultan palace while his photograph of dr rajendra prasad can still be seen at the old secretariat i am trying to collect these and keep them safely said his sculptor sonhe also experimented in black and white photography and discovered original techniques of developing photographs his portraits of singer geeta roy putlibai rani lakshmibai of jhansi and photographs of cr das pr das netaji subhash chandra bose are of immense valuehe also invented a lantern projector in 1940s and prepared many educational slides which were used by the then government of sri krishna singh for educating rural children in villages