The Bengal School of Paintings and Cultural Nationalism

The Bengal School of Art

• The phrase “Bengal School of Art” in The Bengal School Of Paintings And Cultural Nationalism is a misnomer 
• It was linked to the Swadeshi nationalism movement led by Abanindranath Tagore (1871–1951)
• E. B. Havell (1861–1934), a British administrator and head of the Calcutta School of Art, backed Abanindranath
• Both Abanindranath and Havell were critical of colonial art schools and the European art style was pushed on Indians
• Mughal and Pahari miniatures, rather than the Company School of Painting or the academic style taught at colonial Art Schools, were more significant sources of influence

Abanindranath Tagore and E. B. Havell

• Havell and Abanindranath Tagore devised a curriculum that included and encouraged Indian art techniques and themes
• “The first generation of Abanindranath pupils engaged in rediscovering the lost language of Indian painting,” says art historian Partha Mitter
• Abanindranath was the prominent artist and founder of a vital periodical, Indian Society of Oriental Art, to raise awareness that contemporary Indians may profit from this rich history
• In this way, he was also the first significant proponent of Swadeshi principles in Indian art, as seen by the founding of the Bengal School of Art. Many younger artists, such as Kshitindranath Majumdar (Rasa-Lila) and M. R. Chughtai, adopted Abanindranath’s new path (Radhika)

Shantiniketan – Early Modernism

• India’s first national art school was Kala Bhavana. It was part of Rabindranath Tagore’s Visva-Bharati University at Shantiniketan
• Nandalal established the intellectual and creative atmosphere at Kala Bhavana to develop an Indian style of art
• Many young painters were motivated to carry on Bose’s nationalist ideal at Kala Bhavana, the institution, where he taught painting
• He started to concentrate on the language of art by paying attention to the folk-art forms he witnessed in Shantiniketan. He also used woodcuts to illustrate Bengali primers, and he recognized the importance of art in transmitting new ideas
• Consequently, Mahatma Gandhi requested him to paint panels for the 1937 Congress session at Haripura, which he did
• The ‘Haripura Posters,’ were known, featured regular rural people engaged in different tasks such as a musician playing the drums, a farmer tilling the soil, a lady churning milk, and so on
• Posters replicated Gandhi’s socialist aim of incorporating marginalized elements of Indian society via art
• Jamini Roy is a one-of-a-kind contemporary Indian artist who rejected it despite receiving academic instruction at a colonial art school, favouring the flat, colourful style of mural painting
• The fight between Indian and European tastes in art remained, as seen by the British Raj’s art policy
• On the one hand, Bombay School of Art students gave the project for mural decorations for Lutyens Delhi buildings
• Principal, Gladstone Solomon, had taught them realistic studies for the project
• The Bengal School of art painters, on the other hand, were permitted to adorn the Indian House in London under British supervision

Pan-Asianism and Modernism

• In the aftermath of colonial art policy, there was a rift between those who favoured the European academic style and those who preferred the Indian style
• Ananda Coomaraswamy, a renowned art historian, wrote about Swadeshi in art and collaborated with Kakuzo Okakura, a Japanese nationalist in Calcutta, to pay homage to Rabindranath Tagore at the time of the writing
• To accompany him to Calcutta, he hired two Japanese painters who travelled to Shantiniketan to teach Indian pupils the wash style of painting, which is an alternative to traditional western oil painting
• Aside from the rise in popularity of Pan-Asianism, ideas about contemporary European art were also making their way into India Artwork created by European artists was characterized by a more abstract visual language that included squares, circles, lines, and colour patches
• For the first time, Indian artists and the general audience interacted directly with this kind of contemporary art. The impact of the modern western painting style may be seen in the works of Gaganendranath Tagore, the brother of Abanindranath Tagore, who painted in the manner of his brother
• He produced many paintings in the Cubist style, in which the interiors of buildings were constructed from geometric patterns
• Aside from that, he was intensely interested in creating caricatures, in which he often poked fun at wealthy Bengalis who mindlessly followed the European way of doing things

Different Concepts of Modernism: Western and Indian

• The division between Individuals, organizations and scholars was not linked to several factors
• It was based on ideology
• Benoy Sarkar, who agreed with the Anglicists and believed the modernism that was blossoming in Europe to be legitimate, wrote an essay titled ‘The Futurism of Young Asia’. In which he expressed his views on modernism
• He considered the Oriental Bengal School of Art to be regressive and anti-modern in its aesthetics
• On the other hand, E. B. Havell, an Englishman, advocated for a return to indigenous art to develop authentic contemporary Indian art, which was opposed by many
• She depicted Indian settings in the same manner as the Bauhaus exhibition, which was on display at the time
• Modern art in India may best be understood as a product of the fight between colonialism and nationalism throughout the nineteenth century 
• Colonialism ushered in a slew of new art institutions, including art schools, exhibition galleries, art museums, art publications, and art associations
• Although nationalist artists accepted these changes, they continued to emphasize their preference for more Indian tastes in art, and they even embraced a more generalized Asian identity for a time

Conclusion

Following the establishment of the East India Company and the first struggle for independence in 1857, a succession of political events disrupted many aspects of our lives, including art and culture. Everything in the sphere of traditional Indian art was washed away by the onslaught of the West. To teach western art, three art schools were established in Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras. However, the students were forced to mimic European art or create paintings combining Mughal and Western art.  Mr E.B.Havell, a well-known European artist, was the first to advocate for the resurrection of Indian art. He also encouraged and inspired Abanindra Nath to study Mughal, Rajput Pahari, and Ajanta painting techniques in order to develop a new style. Abanindra Nath then produced a sequence of Radha Krishna paintings. He also combined traditional Indian art forms. Finally, the Bengal school of art arose.