Nandalal's work depicts changing landscapes, portraits of people, sketches from life, and places of changing outlook in the modern Indian cultural domain. His nature to explore the various materials and mediums allowed him to make a prolific body of work in different mediums. Bose's sketches capture lived life, people and animals, in the settings with the context and references, with fine rhythmic lines, be it pencil, brush, or any medium. Most of his sketches have a strong tendency of documentation and show a continuous involvement with the surroundings that the artist was present in. He sketched many landscapes with trees, people, and animals. This work shows a landscape with trees. The artist signed and dated '29.11.62, Nanda' vertically in Bengali along the right margin of the painting with a brush in black colour. The painting also bears the artist's personal seal in red. The painting also has an inscription in Bengali which reads 'Brihaspati', roughly translated as 'Thursday' in English.
- Identifier
- ngma-06745
- Material
- Black and White Watercolour, Paper
- Note
- Nandalal Bose, popularly known as the Master Moshai, was born on December 3rd, 1882 in Kharagpur, Monghyr District, Bihar. A disciple of Abanindranath Tagore, he graduated from Government School of Art, Calcutta in 1910. Nandalal was fascinated by the potential of folk art and indigenous modes of expression and inculcated them in his works although stylising them in a unique representation for depiction and narration of local life. He explorative temperament with the artistic materials allowed him to create a vast body of work with printmaking techniques as lithography, linoleum prints and Sino- Japanese techniques while remaining faithful to his narrative subject: India's environment and its ethos. Nandalal Bose's art conjures newness unbound but still flushed with the memories of yesterday. Inspired by Far Eastern sensibilities that celebrate the traditional, the genius of his art's lies in the interplay of sensual silhouettes and his powerful rendering of contemporary themes with the traditions, customs and sensibilities of Indian heritage. It is this intermingling that invigorates his works and captures the minds of his viewers. He began his artistic career with the fervour of Swadeshi movement, rejecting western colonial norms of art and taking inspirations from the ancient murals of Ajanta and Bagh caves as well as Mughal miniatures. In 1919, Nandalal Bose accepted Rabindranath Tagore's invitation to become the Principal of the newly established art school Kala Bhavan at Visvabharati University in Santiniketan. He travelled in and out of India including places like Burma, China, Japan, Malaysia, Java and Sri Lanka seeking artistic stimulus from observing different cultural traditions. He also painted a series of posters for the Indian National Congress at Haripura in February 1938. The range of Nandalal's artistic expressions is seen in his various landscapes with human figures, his varied images of nature, and the Santiniketan Murals. His works reflect the changing landscape, portraying people and places at a time when modern India's cultural development was at its threshold. Nandalal Bose died on April 16th, 1966 in Santiniketan, West Bengal. He won several accolades including the Padma Vibhushan by the President of India in 1953. He was awarded with an honorary Doctorate in Letters (D. Litt.) from Banaras Hindu University in 1950 and Calcutta University in 1957. The NGMA has over 6800 of his works in its collection.
- Pages
- 40.7 X 32.6 cm
- Published in
- India
- Type
- Painting
