Important Notice

Born in Bihar in 1882, Nandalal Bose went on to become one of India’s leading artists of the 20th century, and among the first whose works were declared as a National Art Treasure in 1976 by the Archaeological Survey of India. Bose was amongst a select few who sought to reinvigorate Indian art by rooting it in Indian traditions and an indigenous creative philosophy, rather than spotlighting the overarching Western academic approach to art that... Born in Bihar in 1882, Nandalal Bose went on to become one of India’s leading artists of the 20th century, and among the first whose works were declared as a National Art Treasure in 1976 by the Archaeological Survey of India. Bose was amongst a select few who sought to reinvigorate Indian art by rooting it in Indian traditions and an indigenous creative philosophy, rather than spotlighting the overarching Western academic approach to art that prevailed at the time. He trained under Abanindranath Tagore at the Calcutta School of Art in 1905 and forged a lasting friendship with him. Abanindranath later invited him to work at his studio, Jorasanko, where he came in contact with A K Coomaraswamy, Rabindranath Tagore, and Okakura Kakuzo, a Japanese scholar and artist. It was Bose’s relationship with Rabindranath Tagore, that had a deep influence on him in developing his visual language that was a confluence of his academic training, international travel, and study of traditional Indian art forms.

Rabindranath Tagore established the Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan as an institution to offer Indians an alternative kind of education during a period where the social hierarchy of living as second class subjects in a British colony impacted the inherent reaction to indigenous art and culture. “The English educated young men, in imitation of their teachers, learnt to sneer at anything Indian and learnt to look at the pantheon of Hindu Gods and Goddesses as near monsters. Tagore’s Santiniketan was an attempt to check the erosion of our pride and ignorance of our traditions and heritage.” (Sankho Chaudhuri, “Nandalal Bose and Santiniketan”, Nandalal Bose: A collection of Essays, New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi, 1983, p. 45). In this pursuit, Tagore visited Japan in 1916, following which, he not only expressed his deep admiration for the aesthetics present in everyday life but also arranged for his friend, Okakura Kakuzo to send two Japanese artists to teach and paint at his nephews’ studio, Jorasanko. Tagore wrote, “you will never realise how essential it is to have contact with the living art of Japan so that our own art may revive and flourish.” (Sankho Chaudhuri, p. 46). Tagore made a second trip to Japan and China together with Nandalal Bose where the lifestyle, the study of ink and brushwork served as a strong influence. Shortly thereafter, Tagore wrote to Abinandranath, “I had faith in Nandalal and we need him for the country. According to me, he alone can create the atmosphere necessary for propagation of the new spirit of art that is so vital to the country as a whole.” (Sankho Chaudhuri, p. 48)

Following this plea, Nandalal Bose arrived at Santiniketan to teach and eventually to head Kala Bhavan, the art department. It was during this time, that Bose, “could fully project his love for nature which came to be accepted as source of Art. As a person who had travelled widely and had lived amidst mountains and fields, on rivers and beside the sea, he presented nature through his own loving observations…Students at Kala Bhavan were not chained to a desk or a model: on the contrary they were expected to draw and sketch wherever they went.” (Jaya Appasamy, “Master Moshai: Nandalal as Teacher”, New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi, 1983, p. 61) It is this commitment to observational study, creating from the impression of memory, and rootedness in nature by Nandalal Bose that underscores the present lot. Although untitled, the present lot is also a reference to the flat Santiniketan landscape, although indistinct in its geographic context. Untitled, a watercolour on paper, recalls the influence of Japanese brushstrokes and wash techniques that he studied on his travels with Tagore, yet is wholly identifiable as the distinct visual vocabulary and delicate brush of Nandalal Bose, depicting the horizon in the distance with wind rustling through the tall grass, creating an impression of his memory or contemplation of his surroundings, that he espoused in his work, and inculcated in his students.

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