Nandalal Bose Profile: Delhi Art Gallery

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NANDALAL BOSE
1882 - 16/04/1966

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BEGINNINGS

He was born in Monghyr Dist., Bihar. His father Purnachandra Bose was the estate manager and architect of the Maharaja of Darbhanga. He joined Abanindranath at Jorasanko house , worked on illustrations for a book on `Indian Myths` by Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy. 1909-10 Visited Ajanta, assisted Lady Harringham to copy the murals. Gradually in 1914, Rabindranath Tagore took him to Santiniketan, and gave a ceremonial welcome on his first visit. 1919 Rabindranath Tagore requested him to take charge of the newly started Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan. 1920 Nandalal moved to Santiniketan with his family. 1921 Visited Bagh caves. 1924 Visited Far-Eastern countries. 1936 At the Faizpur Congress Session, Nandalal built a township using only rural material and employing country craftsmen. 1937 Nandalal was again called up by Mahatma Gandhi to make an exhb. clearly visible to the rural people passing by at the Haripura Congress Session. These paintings are now famous as the Haripura posters

EDUCATION

1903-05 Commercial Class, Presidency College, Calcutta.

1905-10 Student of Abanindranath Tagore, Govt. School of Art and Craft, Calcutta.

EXHIBITIONS

1908 Inaugural Exhb., Indian Society of Oriental Art, Calcutta.

1909 Indian Society of Oriental Art Exhibition, Simla.

1910 Exhb. at Indian Society of Oriental Art, Calcutta.

1911 Indian Society of Oriental Art, United Provinces Exhb., Allahabad.

1911 Festival of Empire, Crystal Palace, England (Organised by Indian Society of Oriental Art, for George V?s Coronation).

1912 Exhb., Indian Society of Oriental Art, Calcutta.

1914 22nd Exhb. of Societe des Peintres Orientalistes Francais, Grand Palais, Paris. (Travelling to Belgium, Holland and Imperial Institute, England).

1915 Exhb., Indian Society of Oriental Art, Calcutta.

Young Men`s Indian Association, Madras.

1916 Exhb., Indian Society of Oriental Art, Calcutta.

1924 Travelling Exhb. in USA (Organised by American Federation of Art and Indian Society of Oriental Art).

1928 Exhb., Athenee Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland.

1935 Lucknow Session of the Indian National Congress, Lucknow.

1937 Haripura Posters, decorated the Haripu

COLLECTION

Indian Museum, Kolkata.

National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.

Rabindra Bharati Museum, Kolkata.

Nandan Museum, Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan.

Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

University of Sussex, England.

Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi.

AWARDS

1950 He was awarded D.Litt., Benaras Hindu University, Benaras.

1952 He was awarded D.Litt., Visva Bharati, Santiniketan.

1953 Received the Dadabhai Naoroji Memorial Prize.

1954 Govt. of India honoured him with Padma Bhushan.

1956 Lalit Kala Akademi honoured him with fellowship.

1957 He was awarded D.Litt., Calcutta University, Calcutta.

1958 Silver Jubilee Medal, Academy of Fine Arts.

1963 He was awarded D.Litt., Rabindra Bharati University, Calcutta.

1965 Received Tagore Birth Centenary Medal from the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

He was awarded the title of `National Art Treasure` by the Govt. of India.

STYLE

Of the many artists thrown up by the revivalist movement at the turn of the century Nandalal Bose was the best and the best known. He was the one with the Midas touch in terms not of commercial valuation but of artistic impact. Even today his art is as relevant as ever before. In his first phase, he excelled in the wash technique and his compositions and drawings gradually became firm and design oriented. His second phase, he explored and re-interpreted the traditional sculptural forms and folk paintings of Bengal. It was a significant shift from the epic-puranic watercolour wash to the vibrant Linear expression of the life of the common people. Lastly, in his most endearing phase Nandalal fused the Japanese sensibilities for the unadorned linearity of forms in untreated pictorial space with tribals, the trees, the mountains and vast open fields.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

1910-14 Part-time teaching at Jorasanko, Nivedita Girl`s School, Calcutta. 1916-17 Part-time art teacher, Vichitra Club, Calcutta. 1918-21 Indian Society of Oriental Art, Calcutta and temporary work at Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan. 1922- 51 He was the first Principal at Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan.