In the early years of the 20th century there was a
renewed upsurge of nationalist fervour. In the
arts this resulted in the search and
revitalisation of Indian cultural history and
spirituality, albeit one that was expressed not
through the pictorial vocabulary of the foreign
rulers but by reviving indigenous techniques and
material.
The nationalist project in art was led by
Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951) and some
enlightened Europeans such as EB Havell, the
principal of the Government School of Art in
Calcutta from 1896, and Sister Nivedita, an
associate of Swami Vivekananda. Moving away from
oil painting and subjects that were popular with
both the British and Indian intelligentsia,
Abanindranath looked to ancient murals and
medieval Indian miniatures for inspiration both
for subject matter as well as indigenous
material such as tempera. The philosophy of a
Pan-Indian art that he developed found many
enthusiastic followers and this came to be known
as the Bengal School, The style developed by him
was taken up by many of his students and others
who formed the nationalist art movement often
called the Bengal School, even though the style
and philosophy spread well beyond the borders of
Bengal. They sought to develop an indigenous yet
modern style in art as a response to the call
for ‘swadeshi’ to express Indian themes
in a pictorial language that deliberately turned
away from western styles such as those practiced
by Raja Ravi Varma.
In his rejection of the colonial aesthetic,
Abanindranath turned to Asia, most notably Japan
in an effort to imbibe and propose a pan-Asian
aesthetic that stood independent of the western
one. Japanese stalwarts like Okakura Kakuzo left
a lasting impression, as the Bengal school
artists learnt the wash technique from them,
innovating and modifying it to better suit their
own needs. The themes most often seen in the
Bengal School include misty and romantic visions
of the Indian landscape, historical scenes and
portraits as well anecdotes and incidents from
daily life in the countryside. Many artists
charted individual paths even though they used
the techniques and material popularised by the
Bengal School. Notable artists of the Bengal
School include Asit Haldar, M.A.R Chughtai,
Sunayani Devi and Kshitindranath Majumdar.
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