Important Notice

Born to a middle-class family in Bankura, West Bengal, Jamini Roy grew up surrounded by artisans and local craftsmen, which laid the foundation for influences that emerged in his own artistic career. The aesthetic heritage with the impact of Bankura’s famous terracotta objects, wooden and clay toys of this region, framed the unique visual identity and language that Roy went on to develop later in his oeuvre.

In 1903, Roy joined the... Born to a middle-class family in Bankura, West Bengal, Jamini Roy grew up surrounded by artisans and local craftsmen, which laid the foundation for influences that emerged in his own artistic career. The aesthetic heritage with the impact of Bankura’s famous terracotta objects, wooden and clay toys of this region, framed the unique visual identity and language that Roy went on to develop later in his oeuvre.

In 1903, Roy joined the Government School of Art in Kolkata where he was taught in the British Academic style of painting after which he became, “...one of Calcutta’s popular portrait painters, far above his contemporaries in skill, taste and painting sense.” (Rudolf von Leyden, “Jamini Roy,” The Art of Jamini Roy, Calcutta: Jamini Roy Birth Centenary Celebration Committee, 1987, p. 37) While he began his career by painting in the post-impressionist genre of landscapes and portraits, as governed by his training, he soon become disillusioned and began searching for inspiration elsewhere. Roy expressed this as he stated, “ they devoted themselves to precision and polish and thus eventually forgot the essential function of art... .And what next? The artists...see no path before them. It is like a game of chess, in which you find yourself checkmated.” (Artist quoted in The Art of Jamini Roy, p. 16)

Jamini Roy’s search for a new artistic style led him to leave his urban environment and seek inspiration from his rural roots. “He fled from Calcutta to a Bengal village. He lived among artisans who paint our remarkable expressionistic pats...He learnt from the secret of the fundamental rounded line, the expressive contour enclosing in it the human form in one vital sweep” (The Art of Jamini Roy, p. 17) and finally found his inspiration for “not only recreating a native tradition of painting but also for revitalising Indian art with fresh expressiveness.” (Manasi Majumder, “Jamini Roy - Modernism’s Nationalist Face”, Jamini Roy: National Art Treasure, p. 50)

This reconfiguring of his style and search for inspiration took Roy back to his roots and the intersection of these influences can be seen in the present lot where shades of rustic browns and reds are reminiscent of the reddish mineral-rich soil that is typical to the region. He integrated “terracotta objects from the Bankura region...to create works of art that used simple forms, bold, flat colours, and subjects taken from local folk tales and mythology... The search for identity and rootedness became an object and ‘Back to the village’ became a popular slogan in the freedom struggle.” (Sona Datta, Urban Patua: The Art of Jamini Roy, Mumbai: Marg Publications, 2010, pp. 33-35) Thus, with the language of this work, Jamini Roy, not only defined a signature style, but contextualised himself and his art firmly within the socio-political context of the first half of 20th century India.

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