Raghunath Goswami

Raghunath Goswami (Bengali: রঘুনাথ গোস্বামী) (13 January 1931 – 19 January 1995) was a distinguished artist, noted Indian Bengali book and graphic designer. However, this is not his only identity. He was multi-talented. Raghunath made India's first puppet film, which won the Prime Minister of India's Gold Medal Award for Best Children's Film. Goswami also painted the covers of many books.

Early life
Goswami was born on January 13, 1931, in Santragachi, Howrah, at his maternal uncle's house (Bhattacharya family). Goswami was one of the descendants of the famous Goswami family of Serampore in Hooghly district. His father Upendranath Goswami was a brilliant student. His mother Ranibala Devi was a housewife. Goswami spent his childhood in his uncle's house. He then moved to Sadananda Road in Kalighat, South Kolkata. After a few days, he moved to Rani Harshamukhi Road of Paikpara at North Kolkata. After coming here he got admission in I.A class in the Maharaja Manindra Chandra College, but left the college due to financial reasons and focused on book decoration. He was drawn to art and culture through contact with Shailendranath Gangopadhyay, uncle of a friend.

Career
Goswami started his career as a book designer, illustrator and graphic designer. He was also the cover artist of the books. He worked in J. Walter Thompson in the field of designing in advertising. He served as the Art Director in the same company. After that he also worked in Everest Advertising Company. In 1960, he quit his job as a creative art director and started a company called R Goswami & Associates (RGA). Graphic Design, Interior Design, Exhibition Design, Architectural Design, Product Design, Communication, Animation, Teaching Aids etc., he has effortlessly walked in all aspects of design. In 1952, he founded an organization called The Puppets Calcutta (or Puppets) along with Hena Dasgupta, Dilip Bhowmik and Shantiranjan Pal at Rani Harshmukhi Road in Paikpara, North Kolkata. This organization started the practice of non-traditional puppetry in this country. The Puppets had their office at 6 Hastings Street (now Kiran Shankar Roy Road), Calcutta-1. In 1960, he made a color puppet film called Hattagol Vijay in this way. It is India's first puppet film. The story is also written by Goswami himself. It won the Prime Minister's Gold Medal as the best children's film in 1961.

In Anandabazar Patrika, Angshuman Bandopadhyay wrote under the title 'Those who brought Bengaliana in advertising', "From Annada Munshi to Satyajit Ray, O. C. Ganguly, Makhan Dutta Gupta, Ranen Ayan Dutt or Raghunath Goswami---None is only skilled artist in Advertising. Along with advertising, they brought fine arts, literature, music, films and above all the Bengali heritage. The culture of Calcutta emerged in their work. (in Bengali)"

Goswami had designed cover of many books. It must be remembered that without any education one learns commercial art only by sight. During his college days, he used to draw book covers and work on book illustrations. He also designed the cover of Bibhutibhushan Banerjee's novel Ichamati, Kushal Pahari published by Mitra & Ghosh Publishers.

Awards
Goswami also received recognition and awards from various organizations.
 * Gold Medal from Prime Minister of India (1961)
 * In 1981, he received the Nivedita Art Award from the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Ashrama (Howrah) in 1981 for creating art based on the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda ideology.
 * Academy Award for Puppetry (1993) from the then Governor of West Bengal K. V. Raghunatha Reddy
 * In 1994, he was awarded the Mukabhinaya and folk drama award from Sharabhuj organization.

Death
Goswami passed away on January 19 in 1995.