Case Study: 1 Mss Eur/F236/155 & Add Or 3866-3886 Violence on the Canvas: Calcutta Riot (1946) in the Paintings of Gopal Ghose Gopal Ghosh (1913-1980) was born in Calcutta, and his childhood was spent in Simla, the summer capital of the British Raj. He was also brought up in Banaras and Allahabad, two old cities of India where various Indian cultures found their successful confluence. His training in art started in the Maharaja’s School of Arts and Crafts, Jaipur. Initially Ghose was influenced by the Bengal School, an art movement in Bengal which culminated with the Nationalist Movement of 1905. The Bengal School tried to discover an indigenous expression of art free from the western influences. Later, Bengal School found an artistic kinship with the Japanese art, and artists like Abanindranath Tagore, Kshitindra Nath Majumder adopted many Japanese techniques like morotai. Gopal Ghose, though did not belong to Abanindranath’s milieu, found his interest in landscape, a subject that many of Bengal School artists chose enthusiastically. Mss Eur/F236/155 Gopal Ghosh (1913-80) The British Library has an important file on Gopal Ghose (Mss Eur/F236/155) which is included in the private collection entitled ‘Papers of W.G. Archer, Indian Civil Service, Bihar 1931-47, and his wife Mildred Archer, expert on Indian Poetry and art (1929-1986)’. This file contains few letters of Gopal Ghose written to W.G. Archer where he tried to explain his concept of his own art and technique. In a letter, written on 15 August 1948, Ghose announced his allegiance to Pablo Picasso, ‘I must be frank and flowery that I like Picasso, not only…[because] he has changed his name from Ruiz to Picasso, but … [for] his everlasting vitality and vigour….In Picasso’s fuss I find power of Picasso- so dearly I admire the Pablo of Power’ (Mss Eur/F236/155). It was a long journey, indeed, for him, from Abanindranth to Pablo Picasso. Ghose’s association with Calcutta was renewed when he started teaching at the Indian Society of Oriental Art in 1940-1945. Besides he continued to teach at the Bengal Engineering College, Shibpur, and Scottish Church College. Calcutta in 1940’s was not a happy place, the first half of which was spent under the shadow of imminent Japanese bombing, and the second half of the decade saw an unprecedented communal riot between Hindus and Muslims over the Partition question. The communal politics took an ugly turn in 1946 with an obvious result of mass killings on the street of Calcutta. On 15 February 1946, the British Parliament discussed the dire situation in Calcutta, and Mr. Arthur Henderson, the Under-Secretary of State for India, made a statement on the situation in Calcutta: The casualties reported up till midday on Thursday [14 February 1946] were: Civilians, 38 dead and 527 injured, of whom 276 were still in hospital. Of the police, 82 were injured, 22 of whom were detained in hospital. The military casualties were, one officer seriously wounded, and two British other ranks and two Indian other ranks injured. The reports which my noble Friend has received since the statement which I made to the House on Wednesday, in reply to the noble Lord the Member for Horsham (Earl Winterton) indicate that Wednesday was marked by a renewal of mob violence which mostly took the form of erection of road blocks, interference with vehicular traffic, and damaging and looting shops and other buildings. House of Commons Hansard Archives http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1946/feb/15/calcutta-riots But it was still a prelude to the worst to come, and on the 16th August 1946, following the ‘Direct Action Day’ Calcutta would be witnessing the beginning of a large scale mass slaughter in the name of religion. This communal killing would be continuing even well after the Partition and Indian Independence in 1947. Gopal Ghose made a few paintings in Calcutta during the second half of February 1946, and it seems that he was almost in hurry to finish them. They all came in a gush, and within a few days, he completed them all. The British Library holds 21 of his original paintings of which 18 were created in 1946. Though nowhere in his entire correspondence with Archer, did Ghose give any reference to the violence he must have witnessed in Calcutta, his disillusionment on human civilization became apparent when he wrote about ‘animal’ as his favourite subject: Yes, the animal I like most…The various types of animal I enjoy,… when I come in contact with animals I feel myself happy. Animal still I keep in my right hand side; rightly speaking animal can cure a lot in an age of so-called civilized world I don’t find any happy atmosphere. Letter to W.G. Archer, 15 August 1948 [Mss Eur/F236/155] Landscape painting not only made Ghose famous but also gave him respite from drudgery. He commented: I used to run for open space. Landscapes are the next wonder-world to me; Landscapes are to me lungs of the soil- I breathe in landscapes. (ibid) But interestingly, many of the landscapes that Ghose painted in the February of 1946 feature an impending disaster in forms of storm clouds or forest fire. Add Or 3875 Storm Clouds Medium: watercolour; gouache Signed and dated in Bengali: ‘Gopal Ghose. 15/2/46.’ Add Or 3881 Flame of the forest trees (palas) Medium: watercolour; gouache Signed and dated in Bengali: ‘Gopal Ghose. 28/2/46’ There are four paintings, all made in February 1946, depict directly the violence on the streets of Calcutta. The scenes of agitation, violence and death are smeared with bright colours, though the human figures have been relegated into mere shadows. The non-human objects, building, flags, weapons, trees, vehicles on the street made stark contrast to brightly lit blue or pink sky. Add Or 3883 Demonstrators in Calcutta Medium: watercolour; gouache Signed and dated in Bengali: ‘Gopal Ghose. 29/2/46.’ Add Or 3884 The Calcutta maidan during the communal troubles with military firing Medium: watercolour; gouache Signed and dated in Bengali: ‘Gopal Ghose. 29/2/46.’ Add Or 3885 A burning liquor shop, Calcutta, and soldiers firing Medium: watercolour; gouache Signed and dated in Bengali: ‘Gopal Ghose. 29/2/46.’ Add Or 3886 Calcutta riots Medium: watercolour; gouache Signed and dated in Bengali: ‘Gopal Ghose. 29/2/46 Case Study: 2 P2349 : 1941-1947 Rudolf von Leyden (1908-1983): Cartoons on Political Situations in India During 1940’s Rudolf von Leyden was born on 8 August 1908 in Berlin in an illustrious family. His grandfather Ernst von Leyden was a physician, and knighted for his services to the Prussian Court. His father Viktor von Leyden was a high ranking civil servant, and wrote books on legal themes. His mother Luise Reichenheim was of a Jewish origin. This was not a convenient family identity to live with in Berlin during 1930s especially after Hitler became the Chancellor in 1933. Moreover, Rudolf had interests in communism which made his life further difficult in Germany, and Georg-August University in Gӧttingen, where Rudolph did his Ph.D in Geology, stripped him of the degree on the grounds of his communist leanings. He left Germany in 1933, and joined his brother in Bombay (now Mumbai). Their parents also left country and joined them in Bombay six years later. Rudolf, though studied Geology, never worked as a geologist, instead started to contribute political cartoons to The Times of India, which were published in its supplement The Illustrated Weekly of India. A majority of his cartoons concerned the political situations in Europe during the World War II, and they were ostensibly against the Axis power of Germany, Japan, and Italy. At the same time, he drew a substantial number of cartoons on India, and its political and economic situations. Leyden was particularly sensitive towards the Partition question and the economic corruptions which became integral to Indian ways of life during the last decade of the colonial rule in India. Rudolf left India in mid-sixties, and started to live the rest of his life in Vienna. Rudy von Rudolph passed away on March 25, 1983, just before he was to receive the prestigious Cross of Honour by the Austrian Government for his contribution to art and culture. He signed all his cartoons as ‘DENLEY’, an anagram of his name Leyden. Source: Rudolf von Leyden, Max Muller Bhavan Bombay, Mumbai, 1999 All the cartoons are taken from the following album in the British Library. Title: An album containing 259 caricatures drawn by Rudolf von Leyden (Denley) published in The Illustrated Weekly of India 1941-47. Presented by the artist. Artist(s): Leyden, Rudolf von (1908-1983) Collection Area: Visual Arts Reference: P2349 Creation Date: 1941-1947 Cartoon Newspaper Date Caption Note The Illustrated Weekly of 28 June 1943 Our Cartoonist’s Dr Kanhaiyalal Maniklal India impression of Mr. Munshi, a Congress Munshi’s resignation leader resigned from the from the Congress on the Congress in 1940 over his issue of non-violence disagreement with Gandhi. The Illustrated Weekly of NA Getting the Bird Japan luring Thailand in India order to ‘kill’ it. The Illustrated Weekly of 18 July 1943 Cloth Control Order- Cloth Control Order India Before and After became effective in India in 1943 to restrict the supply of clothes to civilians during the World War. This probably affected corrupt cloth merchants. The Illustrated Weekly of 29 August 1943 Shoot, Man, Shoot…! Sir Jwala Prasad India Srivastava (1889-1954) served as the Member-in- charge of food from 1943-46, during the food crisis in India and famine in Bengal The Illustrated Weekly of 7 November 1943 Work to be done The Viscount Wavell India (1883-1950), the Viceroy of India (1943-47).