In photos: A slideshow of graphic art by Satyajit Ray

A love for calligraphy, fonts, light and shadow – and that trademark sense of whimsy – mark Ray’s early work, before films, in his years as an illustrator.

Moving images are not Satyajit Ray’s only legacy. He set out, in fact, wanting to be a commercial artist. After graduating in Economics from Presidency College in Calcutta, he enlisted at Santiniketan, where he studied fine art for two years (1940-42) under masters such as Nandalal Bose and Benode Behari Mukherjee.

At 22, he began his artistic career with work that is considered seminal (if frequently forgotten by the mainstream) in a range of areas: graphic design, advertising, painting (and of course storytelling). Take a look at some of Ray’s graphic art.

The first Signet edition of the Bengali children’s nonsense novella HA JA BA RA LA by Satyajit Ray. . (Wikimedia)

Ray often illustrated his own stories too. Above, the cover of Pagla Dashu, a collection of schoolboy stories by Ray, published by Signet Press in 1946. .

In the 1960s, Ray would create a number of English typefaces. An especially unique one is Ray Bizarre, which incorporates the appearance of Bengali letters into its shapes. .

The cover of Porom Purush Sri Sri Ramkrishna, a biography. Ray, who developed a love of calligraphy early in his career, often used lettering as art. .

The cover of a Bengali translation of TS Eliot’s poems by Bishnu Dey, designed by Ray and published by Signet Press in 1953.