As yesterday was the birth anniversary of Abanindranath Tagore, we look back at his art, the Bengal Renaissance, the Bengal School and the following Modern Art
Art played a vital role in the freedom movement, and was a powerful tool to awaken anti-colonialist sentiment amongst the masses before and during the struggle for Indian Independence. The Tagore family, through their influence in various creative fields, also contributed through their approaches and philosophies. Abanindranath Tagore, nephew of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, became an influential figure in the Indian art world through his advocacy for an artistic return to Indian tradition. He founded the Bengal School of Art alongside his brother Gaganendranth Tagore, which became a staple for rising nationalism and anti-colonialism, and also planted the seeds for Modern art in India. The Bengal School of Art was the reflection of the wider Bengal Renaissance.
The Bengal Renaissance
The Bengal Renaissance marked an important advancement of Indian thought, culture, art, spirituality, science and literature, which began in the then-capital of the East India Company, Calcutta (now Kolkata). Even though it eventually developed into a means for anti-colonialist and nationalistic sentiment, it began due to the education from the East India Company. After the East India Company overthrew the Nawab of Bengal allied with the French in the Battle of Plassey in 1757, it began a policy of “civilising missions.” These missions were meant to create an English-speaking class of Indians as “mere political slaves”, according to Arabinda Poddar. “The civilising role of English education, stressed the need of creating a class of Anglophiles who would have a somewhat in-between existence between the rulers and the ruled.” As such, the intellectuals most associated with the movement were Upper-Caste Bengali Hindus, with the necessary means to acquire a higher education.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy is named as the “Father of the Bengal Renaissance,” as his works are attributed to be the beginning of the era. Roy created the socio-religious Brahmo Sabha movement, later renamed Brahmo Samaj by Debendranath Tagore. This movement sought the abolition of the caste system and discouraged idol-worship and polytheism. Consequently, the Bengal Renaissance as a whole is credited as being modern, secular, humanist and liberal. Eventually, Bengali Muslims like Kazi Nazrul Islam and Rokeya Shakhawat Hussain also played a key role in the Bengal Renaissance. It included feminism, and the Freedom of Intellect Movement challenged the dogmas in Bengali Muslim society. This whole era was revered during the 19th century and most of the 20th century, however, from the 1970s it was viewed more critically due to its colonialist origins. The Bengal Renaissance reflected in art through The Bengal School of Art, started by Abanindranath and Gaganendranath Tagore.
Abanindranath Tagore And The Bengal School
Abanindranath Tagore was born on August 7th 1871 in Jorasanko, Calcutta to the reputed Tagore family. His elder brother Gaganendranath was a cartoonist and artist, with his own notable art career. Abanindranath, first a student of Sanskrit College in the 1880s, proceeded to learn pastels and oil painting in the British-founded institution Calcutta School of Art. In 1897, he took lessons from the vice-principal of the Government School of Art in the traditional European Academic manner, where he learnt the complete range of techniques. He had a fondness for watercolours, resulting in him developing an interest in Mughal paintings. He met the prominent art historian and professor E.B Havell with whom he redefined the teaching at Calcutta School of Art. He and Gaganendranath then founded the Indian Society of Oriental Art which would later snowball into The Bengal School of Art.
The core belief at the heart of Abanindranath’s work and The Bengal School was that western art was too “materialistic.” He stood against the “academic” style of European art which had also influenced the style of Raja Ravi Varma. He sought to revitalise Indian art styles such as Mughal, Pahari and Rajasthani miniature paintings. The Bengal School of Art, was therefore, contextually modernist. He created some works inspired by Hindu philosophy, but utilised a diverse range of Indian traditional techniques. His work Bharat Mata played an important role in the Swadeshi movement, as the image of an Indian deity-like woman symbolising the nation, painted using Mughal techniques resonated with a pan-Indian consciousness. The series Arabian Nights used the titular story to paint the scenes of colonial Calcutta.
The idea that western art was too materialistic wasn’t unique to Tagore or India, as the pre-Raphaelites in Britain had also espoused similar views. The Pre-Raphaelites were fond of abundant detailing and intense colours, such as in the Quattrocento art of the Italian renaissance. They rejected the “Mannerism” of the artists who succeeded Raphael and Michaelangelo (hence, the name “Pre-Raphaelite”), and were influenced by romanticism, spirituality and nature. A member, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, in particular was fond of classical antiquity. In a similar fashion, Tagore believed in a return to the spiritual values of Indian traditions.
The Pre-Raphaelite thought gaining momentum and Tagore’s influence of elements such as Whistler’s Aestheticism coupled with the gaining popularity of Hindu philosophy in Britain, helped the widening reach of the Bengal School in the Western art world. Abanindranath’s stay in London at the place of the eventual principal of Royal College of Art, William Rothenstein, led to Rabindranath Tagore’s literary work Gitanjali being published in English, thus generating more publicity for the Tagores globally. Later, Abanindranath was also inspired by Chinese and Japanese calligraphy after meeting Japanese art figures like Yokoyama Taikan, which led to him advocating for a Pan-Asian, eastern aesthetic.
Aftermath And Development of Indian Modern Art
The Bengal School was influential as it was simultaneously avant-garde and modernist, as well as traditional and nationalistic. Some students of Bengal School, such as Nandalal Bose and Mukul Dey would have influential careers of their own. After his death, Abanindranath’s son Alokendranath gave his paintings to the Rabindra Bharati Society, where they still remain. Resultingly, a large portion of Abanindranath’s works remain unknown to the public eye. Nandalal Bose would be the steward of Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, a university named by Rabindranath Tagore, who would lay the foundational stone.
Prominent art critic and curator R. Siva Kumar places the art of Nandalal Bose and Rabindranath Tagore, amongst others, as part of a context sensitive modernist Santiniketan Art Movement. He argues, “Santiniketan artists did not believe that to be indigenous one has to be historicist either in theme or in style, and similarly to be modern one has to adopt a particular trans-national formal language or technique. Modernism was to them neither a style nor a form of internationalism. It was critical re-engagement with the foundational aspects of art necessitated by changes in one’s unique historical position.”
In the 1920s, modernist principles began to have an influence on Indian art, such as in the Progressive Art Movement which began in Bombay. The Progressive Artists’ Group, having prolific members such as Tyeb Mehta, Krishen Khanna, M.F Hussain and S.H Raza went against the current of the revivalist nationalism of the Bengal School of Art. As such, the Progressive Artists Group used then prevalent European and American modern art techniques such as cubism, post-impressionism and expressionism. This sentiment had a lot to do with the traumatic Partition of India and Pakistan, and hence, the Progressive Artists sought an artistic and cultural engagement at a global level.
R. Siva Kumar disagreed with classifying Abanindranath, Nandalal Bose, Ram Kinker Baij and others as a distinct “Bengal School of Art.” In his catalogue essay of his exhibition ‘Santiniketan: The Making of a Contextual Modernism’ he argues that the unified classification of the Bengal School of Art happened as “early writers were guided by genealogies of apprenticeship rather than their styles, worldviews, and perspectives on art practice.” However, it is important to note that despite there being a core nationalistic sentiment key to the Bengal School, there was an influence of global and Western aesthetic ideas. The Bengal School resonated with the Western art world in its time, as did the Progressive Art Movement in the early 20th century. Sanjay Sircar notes, “while a special kind of nationalist sentiment is present in the paintings of Abanindranath and in the ideas of Rabindranath, there was always an aversion to direct political confrontation at the core of those sentiments.” Since 2012, there has been a resurgence in interest in the Bengal School of Art.
The Bengal School of Art, the Santiniketan masters and the Progressive Art Movement all had their own importance and their own impact on Indian Modern art, as well as the wider placement of Indian art in the global art world. They were all formed out of the intellectual necessities of their own eras, and thus contributed in their own ways to artistic, socio-cultural and political discourse. All three art movements are exemplary, in their own way, of the Indian artist’s engagement with the wider world as well as with their roots, which the current contemporary artists of India continue to this day.
References
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_Renaissance
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja_Ram_Mohan_Roy
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmo_Samaj
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaganendranath_Tagore
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abanindranath_Tagore
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_School_of_Art
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Raphaelite_Brotherhood
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_Progressive_Artists%27_Group
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visva-Bharati_University
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiniketan:_The_Making_of_a_Contextual_Modernism
- https://dagworld.com/the-art-of-santiniketan.html
Citizen of The World. A musician, artist and writer. Social media manager at Abir Pothi
