VIDYA BHAWAN BALIKA VIDYAPITH Subject : Fine Art (painting) class : 12th science/com Date : 09/05/20 RADHAKISHOR MONDAL

HISTORY OF

Bengal School of Art

Bharat Mata by (1871-1951), a nephew of the poet , and a pioneer of the movement

The School of Art commonly referred as Bengal School, was an art movement and a style of that originated in Bengal, primarily and , and flourished throughout the Indian subcontinent, during the in the early 20th century. Also known as 'Indian style of painting' in its early days, it was associated with (swadeshi) and led by Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951), but was also promoted and supported by British arts administrators like E. B. Havell, the principal of the Government College of Art, Kolkata from 1896; eventually it led to the development of the modern Indian painting. The Bengal school arose as an avant garde and nationalist movement reacting against the academic art styles previously promoted in , both by Indian artists such as Raja Varma and in British art schools. Following the influence of Indian spiritual ideas in the West, the British art teacher Ernest Binfield Havell attempted to reform the teaching methods at the Calcutta School of Art by encouraging students to imitate Mughal miniatures. This caused controversy, leading to a strike by students and complaints from the local press, including from nationalists who considered it to be a retrogressive move. Havell was supported by the artist Abanindranath Tagore, a nephew of the poet Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore painted a number of works influenced by Mughal art, a style that he and Havell believed to be expressive of India's distinct spiritual qualities, as opposed to the "materialism" of the West. Tagore's best- known painting, (Mother India), depicted a young woman, portrayed with four arms in the manner of Hindu deities, holding objects symbolic of India's national aspirations. Tagore later attempted to develop links with Japanese artists as part of an aspiration to construct a pan-Asianist model of art. Through the paintings of 'Bharat Mata', Abanindranath established the pattern of patriotism. Painters and artists of Bengal school were , M.A.R Chughtai, Sunayani Devi (sister of Abanindranath Tagore), Manishi Dey, , Kalipada Ghoshal, Asit Kumar Haldar, , Kshitindranath Majumdar, Sughra Rababi, . The Bengal school's influence in India declined with the spread of modernist ideas in the 1920s. As of 2012, there has been a surge in interest in the among scholars and connoisseurs. Bimal Sil' was a contemporary of Abanindernath Tagore. He painted in water colours. His paintings are found in private collections only. Abanindranath Tagore