EVOLUTION:

CONSOLIDATING THE
MODERN
GAGANENDRANATH TAGORE: RADICAL,
SATIRICAL ART:
Gaganendranath Tagore was the
older brother of the more
popular modern Indian painter,
Abanindranath Tagore. With
little formal training and
overshadowed by the stature of
his younger brother in modern
Indian art, Gaganendranath
carved his name and style. He
began painting late in his life
and was inspired by the wash
technique and calligraphic
brushwork of Japanese art. He
was also influenced by Western
art, particularly cubism.
CUBISM AND ITS EFFECTS

Temple Cubistic, which portrays a rather Indian

subject, the temple, rendered in cubistic style and
elements. A fusion of two cultures and styles.
SATIRICAL ART
BENOD BIHARI MUKHERJI: THE VISIONARY
ARTIST
• Life of medieval saints.
CONVERSATION 1960

Conversation c.1960 depicts two

figures seated on stools, their
bodies facing in opposite
directions. The figure on the left
has its torso and head turned to
face the other person, suggesting
the movement of twisting around
while engaged in conversation.
The figures are formed from
pieces of cut paper in bold, bright
colours that include orange, red,
green, dark blue and black. These
are pasted onto beige-coloured
card to form the scene.
ARTISTIC INPUTS

• Benod behari’s early style was influenced by his interest in oriental calligraphic forms and Japanese
ink painting. His sight loss restricted him to working with simple shapes in flat colours, with which he
was able to compose complex images from memory. His collages demonstrate a strong a relationship
with the late paper cut-outs of Henri Matisse (1869–1954) in their bright, block colours and bold
formal arrangement.
• Mukherjee had been born with impaired vision, but with his family’s support studied at Kala Bhavan,
the art department at Santiniketan, as one of the early students in the artist and writer Rabrindranath
Tagore’s (1861–1941) academy. He went on to study in Japan in 1936 and worked in northern India
and Nepal. After losing his sight, Mukherjee returned to Kala Bhavan to teach art history, later
becoming the academy’s Principal and Professor Emeritus.
• Familiar with both historic and contemporary European art movements, it is likely that Mukherjee would
have encountered Matisse’s cut-out paper works, which Matisse made from 1948 onwards. In an
autobiographical essay that Mukherjee wrote about his time in Japan in 1937, Matisse and the impressionists
are cited as a strong influence on Japanese artists who had studied in or visited Paris. Santiniketan was a
cosmopolitan environment, as its founder Rabrindranath Tagore frequently travelled to Europe and interacted
regularly with the western art establishment. European and Japanese academics often visited, notably the
Italian art historian Giuseppe Tucci in the 1920s, whom Mukherjee mentions in his memoirs. The subjects
and themes he chose to represent, from everyday scenes to compositions combining common objects and
abstract geometric shapes, also indicate an engagement with the conventions of academic and modernist
painting. For example, another collage, Still Life with Key c.1965 (Tate T14330), is reminiscent of early
cubist compositions with their use of newsprint and distorted perspective.
PAPER AND GRAPHITE ON PAPER
JAMINI RAY

Christ with
angels
AMRIT SHER-GILL THE FEMALE PIONEER

Two women and south Indian

going to the market
BRIDE’S TOILET