CLASS 12 : FINE ARTS

UNIT : 3 - THE MODERN TRENDS IN INDIAN ART

MODERN PAINTING AND ARTISTS

During British era literature, science and arts were developing with new techniques in almost
all branches of artistic activities. The movement of modern painting originated in Calcutta
(Kolkata), Bombay (Mumbai) and Madras (Chennai) and has spread to all parts of India.
India’s first nationalist art school, Kala Bhavana, was set up in 1919 as part of the
newly established Visva-Bharati University in Shantiniketan, conceptualised by poet
Rabindranath Tagore. Artists approach to painting and the style he chosen depends on his
own personality and on the influence of the times in which they live.

These art schools tended to promote traditional Indian crafts, and academic and naturalist
art that reflected Victorian tastes.

Artists During Modern Art Time

Abanindranath Tagore from Bengal, develop and Indigenous style of painting and built-
up Bengal School along with his disciples like Nand Lal Bose, Vinod Bihari, Sharada Ukil
and other.

Gaganindranath Tagore, after 1925, rejected the traditionalism of Bengal school and he
tried cubistic painting influenced by European Cubism.

o His paintings of mysterious halls and rooms were made with vertical, horizontal and
diagonal lines, which were quite different from the Cubist style of famous artist
Pablo Picasso, who invented the style using geometrical facets.

Rabindranath Tagore, the famous poet started paintings at the age of 67 and blocks the
expressionist in his painting. Rabindranath Tagore in his painting focuses on
expressionism.

o He would often make patterns out of doodles and developed a unique, calligraphic
style out of crossed out words. Some of these were turned into human faces and
landscapes, which floated captivatingly in his poems

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 o Rabindranath created a small visual world that was a complete departure from the
more elegant and delicate style of the Bengal School, which often drew inspiration
from Mughal and Pahari miniatures along with Ajanta frescoes.

Raja Ravi Verma a self tought painter of south(Kerala), was first Indian painter who
trained in the western technique of oil painting and depicted subject based on Indian
mythology and classical literature.

Jamini Roy started painting in the style of Kalighat Pata painting. He followed the glowing
colour, flowing curves and bold line of this style. Also rediscover the beauty of folk art and
redefined it into modern art.

o He rejected his own training received at the Government School of Art, Calcutta.
Being a student of Abanindranath Tagore, he realised the futility of pursuing
academic art. He noticed that the rural, folk art in Bengal had much in common
with how modern European masters like Picasso and Paul Klee painted.

o Roy, too, used simple and pure colours. Like village artists, he also made his own
colours from vegetables and minerals.

o Roy signed on his paintings.

Amrita Shergil, half Hungarian and half Indian, emerges as a unique female artist in the
Indian art scene in 1930.Amrita Shergil received her art education from Paris and had a
first-hand experience in European modern art trends, such as Impressionism and post–
Impressionism. She worked to develop art with Indian themes and images. Amrita Sher-Gil
assimilated miniature and mural traditions of Indian art with European modernism. She
painted beautiful canvases in her 28 years short life span.

Ramkinkar Baij at Shantiniketan started modelling sculpture and painting in an

expressionistic way.

o Ramkinkar Baij was an artist given to the celebration of nature. His art reflects his
everyday experiences

o For instance, his Santhal Family, made as an outdoor sculpture within the Kala
Bhavana compound, turned the daily activity of a Santhal family setting out for
work into a larger than a life size piece of art.

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 Devi Prasad Roy Choudhary brought bronze casting technique and made sculpture in
European style influenced by Rodin.

o Had had used academic realism to celebrate the labour of working classes, for
example “The Triumph of Labour”.

M.F. Hussain is one of the most versatile artist of that phase. He played a role to develop
modern Indian art In International platform.

Well known painters and sculptors artist and graphic print artists of these modern phase
are N. S. Bendre, B. C. Sanyal, F. N. Souza , Dhanraj Bhagat, Amarnath Sehgal and
many other.

From early 1940s to the first decade of the Post independence era the young painters put
in the conscious effort to create an art form which was deeply rotate in the Indian soil was
also capable of reflecting the voice of social change. They represented the lives of common
people used popular folk symbols in their art.

MODERN PAINTINGS

(VERY IMPORTANT TABLE)

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RAMA VANQUISHING THE PRIDE OF THE OCEAN

Artist - Raja Ravi Verma

School - Modern school

Medium - Oil on canvas (Painting)

Description-

This painting is an episode from Balmiki’s

Ramayana. After preparing his force for invading
Lanka to recover Sita, Rama was held up by the sea.
Attempts to build a bridge were washed out by the
ocean. Rama threatened to destroy Varuna, the god
of ocean. Varuna and his consort rush forward to
pacify the angry Rama.

In this painting Raja Ravi Verma has shown his

ability to capture movement and motions of his
composition on the principle of dynamic balance.
Rama’s posture and fluctuating drapery suggest wind blowing from the ocean.

The solid rocks in the foreground provide in contrast to the smooth surface of the ocean. The
vertical form of Rama builds efforts of bravery and strength. Rama is shown standing with
bow and arrow. A lightning is shown beautifully on the dark background.

Collection - Chitrashala, Mysore

MOTHER AND CHILD

Artist - Jamini Roy

School - Modern school

Medium - Oil on canvas (Painting)

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Description-Jamini Roy is among those artists who
painted independently without being impressed by
Bengal school and introduced a new and modern style in
India. His new experiments were based on folk art of
Bengal specially the Kalighat Pata painting.

In this vertical composition he has immortalized

motherhood by drawing mother and child as Yashoda &
Krishna. The space is nicely filled with figure and other
objects. Lady is shown holding a child with her left arm
on the left side of her waist. Faces are cup shaped; eyes
are elongated like fish shaped with thick eyebrows.
Mother’s head is tilted towards her child. The child is
totally naked while the mother is wearing a saree. Both
mother and child are decorated with ornaments. The folk
motives in the background captured the simplicity of
local and rural lifeMother is wearing dark brown saree
with border. Brown colour is dominant in the painting.
The use of yellow Ochre is also very beautiful. White colour is used for ornaments and flowers
and working as high light .

Collection – National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi

HALDI GRINDER

Artist - Amrita Shergil

School- Modern school

Medium- Oil on canvas (Painting)

Description-

Amrita Shergil had great empathy and fascination for rural, poor and authentic India. This
painting is a very honest depiction of the domestic Indian household. It shows women doing a
routine work of grinding turmeric. Here we see the view through two thick trunks the two
women sitting sideways in profile and grinding on a stone grinder. Their heads are covered

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and faces are dark with no emphasis on facial features.
There is a young girl sitting next to them with turmeric
seeds. One more head is visible at the far end of the
composition which is again veiled and obscure.

The female forms are simplified and abstract in a very

modern style. The trees specially the details of leaves
carry the influence of Indian painting that she
encountered after coming to India. Hence this painting is
in extraordinary mix of eastern and western art. Amrita’s
colour are flat and entirely with intense of red, yellow
occur, brown, yellow and green.

Collection- National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi

MOTHER TERESA

Artist – M.F. Hussain

School- Modern school

Medium- Oil on canvas (Painting)

Description-

This painting has been depicted through

sTeresa has been depicted through her
flowing drapes of the blue bordered
white saree instead of her portrait. On
one side of the saree she is giving
shelter to a girl, who is representing the orphan homeless child. On the other side a sick
person is lying on her knee, where as another figure is sleeping on the lap of Mother Teresa.
Mother Teresa’s right palm is rise in the form of blessing. Husain’s lines are sharp and full of
expression. Mostly colours are flat light and dark tones can be seen at few places.

Collection- National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi

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