Bengal School of Art

5/16/2018 Bengal School of Art

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12Pioneers of Contemporary Art

Movements in India12.0 INTRODUCfIONWhen Indians lost their w ar of independence in 1857, India becam e a British colony.A t that m om ent, art movement suceeded in weaning away the young painters to thestrong influence of B ritish naturalism and classical w estern art, but it soon lost itsrelevance. The age-old them es derived from epics and classical literature, so popularamong the Bengal School artists, did not remain relevant to the needs of a changingsociety. The Indian people on the one hand w ere reeling under the British oppressionand on the other hand were trying to throwaway the yoke of slavery. They werestru gg lin g to u sh er in an era of indep endence, of self-respect and self-determ inatio n inso cio -ec on om ic an d p olitica l sp here s. T he n ee d was felt for an art fo rm wh ic h re fle cte dthe m ood of a changing society.12.10BJECI'lVES

After stu dy in g th is m od ule , le arn er win be able to:

. . Describe the evolution of Bengal School art. .State the name of artists, m ethods and m aterial, sizes, them es and

places of enlisted pain ting s . ,Tell the title of enlisted paintings of th e period. Identify the art of B en gal S choo l painting from other paintin gs.


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While travelling into India, B ritish brou ght prints of paintings from Europe . Theof E uropean prints provided Indian artists new modes of ex pression and nlo ok in g a t p ro blems of naturalistic representation. This E uropean componentpainting was a la stin g contrib utio n th at filte red th ro ugh into the later regional swhich Company artists w ere recruited . M a ny of the tradit ional artists got opposee them at w ork. It was inthis informal and un-programmed w ay that the Indiwhat h as been ca lled the C om pany S chool of pain ting. g ained some ski ll intt ype of rea li sm. When this change w as taking p lace arose one artist w holegend o f India n pain tings o f mode rn e ra inth e fo rm o fRav i Va rma (1 848-1 9


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12.2 RAVANA AND JATAYURavana and JatayuRaja Ravi Jilmra'OilEuropeanNational Museum; New Delhi

General DescriptionRaja Ravi V erm a belonged to the R oyal fam ily ofT ravancore (on the south w est coastof In dia) . H e painted inoil and his w ork, in a late Neo-c la ss ical s ty le , has a Vic to ri anheaviness. The staginess of his art is much clearer to us than it was to hiscontemporaries, who considered him the most outstanding painter in th e westerna ca dem ic s ty le . H is p ain tin g w ere re pro du ce d in oleographs and distributed widely. H ispainting are mo stly w ith an epic or r el ig iou s subj ec t matter. H e w as not an incompe ten tportrait painter, his sole contribution perhaps is that he re -int roduced i n d i a n sub ject s a ssacred national ideals and vision. An example of R aja Ravi Vanna's oil paintings isRava na a nd J ata yu based on epic Ramayan. V anna reveals here his ability to seizem ovem ent and build up a com position on the principle of dynam ic balance. Jatayu istrying to free Sita fr om Ravan a. Inth e ac t R av an a has cu t the right wing of Jatayu withh is sw ord . B y co vering her face S ita is av oid in g to see the cruelty of Ravana. Upwardm ovem ent of Ravana su gg ests th e fleein g w ith Sita. Ravi V arm a perpetuated a kind ofIn dia n femin in e ty pe . Other paintings of R aja R avi Vanna 'Ha ris hc handr a', 'B husma sVow ', 'Hans a Damayan ti' a r e all good ex am ples.IN-TEXT QUESTIONS (12.2)Fill in t he b lands -1. Ravi Varmabelongedto ----~(A) Artist family (B) RoyalFamily

(C) Poor Family.2. Ravi V anna did painting in ------tA W ater colountls) Tem pera,

(C) Oil.3. was the first Indian painter to paint inOil (A ) A la giri N a id u,

(B) Raja Raja Vanna, (C) Ravi Varma.4. made R avi V anna famous (A ) Photograph, (B) Oleograph,

(C ) L it hog raph.


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1ItIe. ArtistMI!tdiuaStyleSizeCollection

RadhikaA hanindra H ath T ag oraW ater co lo ur and W ash o n P ap erBengal School14x21 emNational Gallery of Modern. Art,New Delhi (ACe 1861)

ee.nI ......The foremost pioneer ofBenga1 School. S riA banindra N ath T agore w as hom on 7Augus t1871. In 1905,Abanind ra Nath was appointed V i ce -P rin cip al o fC a lc uUa School o f A rt.YClUDIP artists began 10adoptAbanindra Nath~s mannet't with itstepid ~ and wist fu lsmr imen ta1ity .Abanindr a Na th combiDcd th e Indian tem pera - techniques with th e J a p a n e s ewata" colour ev olving a new style ofpainting called the wash teclmique. He a lso evo lv ed atJl) 'ID: andmellow s t y 1 e w i th d i f f il s e d light background m:t elongaIcd lyr ical figures. R a d l : n 1 c ais an exam ple of A banindra N ath style. Radha has gone to c olle ct sOme wa te r in aneat1bem pot from river. Init simple composition Radha is shown wearin g a typical sari inBengalte style. The figure is very ~ soothing and delicate. Tempera a l & o became apopu lar medium of Beogal Schoof painters. Inhis later wolb A banindra N ath wasinfIueoccd by calligraphist and painters from China and paint 1' I lBkcB from Japan.

Students ofBenga1 S chool took imspiration from anc ient epic s c la ss ic allitendure; 1hejr c ompo sitio ns w ere u su ally based on the format ofR ajput andPabari paintings.


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IN-TEXT QUESTIONS (12.4)FiB in the b lanks:-' , .(1) The new style of painting evolved by Abanindra N ath is called as ,(2) is an example of Abanindra Na th S ty le .(3) Abanindra Nath was in fluenced by and from

Ch ina an d paint makers of Japan .

12.5 SRI CHAITANYNA UNDER GARUD STAMBHASii~underGarudStambha

. .NamllilUlose>~~ and Tempera o n P ap er'1J~gal ~hool

,...' 12.8 x 40 emNational Gallery' of Modern Art."New l)elhi (ACe 4791)

GeMnI DeIcriptt.tAbanindra Nath's disciple Nandla l Bose le arn t a t G ov t. School of Art &Craf t, Ca lcut taand extended th e tradition by doing paintings ina diffe rent s ty le . Shantinike tan f lourishedunder N andlaI Bose. N andlal had a great respect for the Indian tradition both in art andl ife . He visitedAjanta and th e Bagh caves in 1920-21, carefully making studies and drawingof the murals w hich later reflected in his w orks. Nandlal painted S r i Chaita nya und erG a ru d S tambha in mixed medium, (wash & tempera). Chaitanya in grief i s rec lin ingaga in st a p illa r. He is supporting his b o dy with his right hand. Par t o fh is body is coveredwith a c lo th . The ges tu re oflimbs suggests depression. Longish fingers a re w ith f em in in edelicacy. On th e top o f p illa r Garud-th e'c arrie r o fLord Vis hnu, is sitting. Adevine light ispouring down toChai~ya sugges ting the bless ings . :

IN-TEXT QUESTIONS (12.5)Circle th e correc t word:-1. Art schools were extablished by (A ) EB Hav ell, (B) British , (C ) Abanindr a Na th2. N andlal Bose followed (A) EB Rabell (8)G ogonendra N ath, (C ) A banindra N ath3. N andlal Bose learnt at (A ) Govt. School o fArt, &C raft calcutta (8) Art School

ofM um bai (C ) Art School of M adras.


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lZ .6 CRUC I FIX ION

Collectio"

Folk Art88.5 x 66.5 emNatio"al Gallery of Modern Art,New Delhi (ACe 157)

ndeArtist

Crucif ixion. , . .Jamini Roy

.. _ Tempera on clo thedium.StyleS i z e

Genera l DelerlptlonJamini R oy developed his ow n style rejecting bo th Bengal S ch oo l a nd western sty le.1 :Iisstyle is based on Bengal Folk art fonn. Jamini Roy was born inApril 1882 a t Ba1ia to reDistrict Bankura inBengal. When Jamini Roy was sixteen years of ag e, hew as sent toKolkat a (Ca lcut ta ) to stu dy p ain tin g. T ho ug h he was tr ain ed inwestern techn iq ues bu tinstead ofusin g w estern facilities he reduced to s ev en colo urs which he prepared w ithlocal ear th colours crushed in tam arin d glu e or in th e white of the egg. For the greys,he used the m ud of river; for the vermilion h e to ok from th e ritu al c ompos itio n used byw om en; blue is just the sim ple indigo and white lim e. And when he required black, itwas the modest black of soot that h e emp lo ye d. In the preparation of his canvas heused cowdun g. In his paintings he portrayed all the activities of the people. H ee xp re ss ed r elig io us s ce ne s, s tra ng e ritual d an ce s e tc . Jamini used th e traditional temperatechnique. H is sources of inspiration w ere the pata-chitras of Kaligha t and ter racortatoys of Bankura. H is paintings show a remarkable economy of lines, sim plicity ofdrawing and solidity inh is c ompositio ns. T he art of Jamini Roy. however. does not lim i titself to th e face of India; it has som etim es searched for inspiration from outsidecountries. Itresulted in strange portrait of C hrist. C rucifix ion is the resem blance w iththo se paint ed inByzantium and is an asto nish ing p ain ting. T h i S painting in tempera onpaper sh ow s th e event of crucifix io n of C hrist. Among st three figures, tw o right and lefts ide f igures are painted indark co lo urs th us g iv in g th e imp ortan ce to th e central figure.Inthe background a number of followers are praying with folded hands. The mood oft he enti re p ain tin g is g rie f.


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IN TEXT QUESTION (12.6)C hoose the correct w ord:-1. Jamini R oy used (A ) N atural colours, (B) B ritish colours, (C ) W ash2. lam ini w as born in (A) April 1882, (B) June 1838. (C) July 18823. Jamini Roy used th e traditional (A) Tempera Technique (8) Ac ry lic Co

O il Co lo ur s

12.7 SUMMARY4 . The mood of Jam ini R oy's C rucifix ion is (A )Joy, (B) H orror (C ) G ri

A fter the negligence of Indian art by the later M ughals, the new rulers ema rtists. R a vi V a nn a born ina p rin ce ly f am i ly o fK ilimanoor near T ravan core.Vanna painted in oil and in a s ty le th at was akin to a ca dem ic realism. Bo t h mmethods were Eu ro pe an . H e w as popularized through the oleographs issuepress es tab li shed inBombay .The greatest contribution of the Bengal School was restoring the pride ofpeople in thei r r ich cultura l heri tage a nd wean in g them away f rom th ough tle sso f B r it ish art a nd we st er n cultural influences. Thus the B engal School succb rin gin g th e painters, sculptors, poe t s an d musicians into the m ainstream oftbArt.The painters. w ho started their career under the guidance of m asters of Bengaw ere soon ex posed to th e art o f Imp re ssio nis ts a nd th e E x pre ssio nists ofEW'Qexposure opened up new dimensions of pictorial arts to them . Theyexperim enting w ith new m edium s, them es and techniques. Their paintingreflecting a new sense of freedom and a great individual thrust. A rtists rejromanticism and lyricism of Bengal School and moved over to working ow hich w ere relevantto the changing socio-political conditions of the countrpainters and sculptors are called the radicals of B engal School.


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12.8 MODEL QUESTIONS

Give brief descript iOnofdtt fo llowing:1. W hat was the pu rp ose of Eas t India Company to recruit the Indian artists?2. Desc ribe the themes ofRavi Vanna's paintings?3. write onAbanindIana1h's Paint ing 'Radhika' ,4 . Describe th e painting 'Chai tanya W I d e r Guard Stambha' .12.9 ANSWERSOF IN-TEXT QUESTIONS:12.2 1B, zc, 3C. 4B12.4 (1) Wash-techniques, (2) Radhika, (3) Ca llig r aph is t, p a in te r s.12.5 ic,2C. 3A12.6 lAo 2A, 3A, 4C

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