Nandalal Bose: An all-time great of modern art in India

Born in Bihar’s Munger district on December 3, 1882, Bose’s father Purna Chandra Bose at that time worked in the Darbhanga Estate and his mother, Khetramoni Devi, was a housewife with a skill in improvising toys and dolls.

Picking up the trait from his mother, Bose took active interest in moulding wet clay and decorating Durga Puja pandals. It perhaps marked the beginning of his artistic endeavours.

At the age of 15, he moved to Calcutta for high school studies. Bose wanted to study art but could not obtain permission from his family. Unable to qualify for promotion in his classes, Bose moved to other colleges, joining the Presidency College in 1905 to study commerce. After repeated failures, however, he joined Calcutta’s School of Art.

Career

Bose was groomed by Abanindranath Tagore, the nephew of Rabindranath Tagore as well as the principal artist and creator of the Indian Society of Oriental Art, for five years till 1910. Association with the Tagore family and the murals of Ajanta awakened his idealism for a nationalistic consciousness, commitment toward classical and folk art, along with its underlying spirituality and symbolism.

Bose drew his early philosophical inspiration from Ananda Coomaraswamy, Sister Nivedita and EB Havell and also from the Japanese painters in Calcutta whose influence led him to the significance of valuing one’s artistic heritage.

In his own work, Bose experimented with the flat treatment of Mughal and Rajasthani traditions and played with the Sino-Japanese style and technique in his works.

Bose became principal of the Kala Bhavana (College of Arts) at Rabindranath Tagore’s International University Santiniketan in 1922.

Illustrating the Constitution

When the Indian Constitution was being drafted, the members of Constituent Assembly thought it would be appropriate if the document could represent India’s journey and heritage.

The Congress entrusted Bose with the task of illustrating the pages. Along with his disciple Rammanohar, Bose took up the task of beautifying and decorating the original manuscript of the Constitution.

Bose was also asked by Jawaharlal Nehru to sketch the emblems for the Government of India’s awards, including the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Shri.

Personal life

In 1903, he married Sudhiradevi, the daughter of a family friend. He died on April 16, 1966, in Calcutta.

Awards and recognitions

Bose, who left a major imprint on Indian art, was the first recipient of a scholarship offered by the Indian Society of Oriental Art, founded in 1907.

In 1956, Bose became the second artist to be elected Fellow of the Lalit Kala Akademi. In 1954, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan.

The Academy of Fine Arts in Calcutta honoured Bose with the Silver Jubilee Medal. The Tagore Birth Centenary Medal was awarded to him in 1965 by the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

In 1976, the Archaeological Survey of India, which is part of the Union government’s Department of Culture, declared Bose’s works among the “nine artists” whose work, “not being antiquities”, were to be henceforth considered “to be art treasures, having regard to their artistic and aesthetic value”.

Source: Wikipedia, dagworld.com, artiana.com

INTERESTING FACTS

1. The National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi possesses 7,000 of Nandalal Bose’s works in its collection, including a 1930 black and white linocut of the Dandi March depicting Mahatma Gandhi.

2. The Haripura panel paintings are a series of 77 panels that were executed on handmade paper in 1938 to mark the Congress session in Gujarat which he had painted at Mahatma Gandhi’s behest.

3. A sincere teacher and sensitive artist, Nandalal Bose was invited by Mahatma Gandhi to set up art exhibitions for Indian National Congress several times. To mark the 1930 occasion of Gandhi’s arrest for protesting the British tax on salt, Bose created a black on white linocut print of Gandhiji walking with a staff. The work became the iconic image representing the non-violence movement and Gandhi himself.

4. His style were recognised by famous artists and art critics like Gaganendranath Tagore, Ananda Coomaraswamy and O. C. Ganguli. These lovers of art founded the Indian Society of Oriental Art.