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Three Figures of the Sino-Indian Artistic Exchange in Colonial Bengal Nicolas Nercam Université Bordeaux Montaigne, [email protected]

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Three Figures of the Sino-Indian Artistic Exchange in Colonial Bengal Nicolas Nercam Université Bordeaux Montaigne, Nicolas.Nercam@Free.Fr Artl@s Bulletin Volume 5 Article 3 Issue 2 South - South Axes of Global Art 2016 The Gentleman, the Craftsman and the Activist: Three Figures of the Sino-Indian Artistic Exchange in Colonial Bengal Nicolas Nercam Université Bordeaux Montaigne, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/artlas Part of the Asian Art and Architecture Commons, Fine Arts Commons, Modern Art and Architecture Commons, and the Other History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons Recommended Citation Nercam, Nicolas. "The Gentleman, the Craftsman and the Activist: Three Figures of the Sino-Indian Artistic Exchange in Colonial Bengal." Artl@s Bulletin 5, no. 2 (2016): Article 3. This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. This is an Open Access journal. This means that it uses a funding model that does not charge readers or their institutions for access. Readers may freely read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles. This journal is covered under the CC BY-NC-ND license. South-South The Gentleman, the Craftsman and the Activist: Three Figures of the Sino-Indian Artistic Exchange in Colonial Bengal Nicolas Nercam* Université Bordeaux Montaigne Abstract This article analyses some aspects of the Chinese-Indian exchanges, which took place in the first half of the 20th century, in the artistic circle of Calcutta and Shantiniketan, in Bengal. From the beginning of the last century, the Bengali elite was under the influence of Okakura Kakuzo’s Pan-Asian theories, in its approach to Chinese art. From the 20’s, under the auspices of Rabindranath Tagore the first direct contact between Chinese and Indian artistes took place and lasted until the 40’s. From the 30’s, the Bengali avant-garde, in its search of a new aesthetic in relation with social and political oppression found stimulation in the Chinese woodcut movement. Résumé Cet article analyse quelques aspects des échanges artistiques Sino-indiens, durant la première moitié du XXe siècle, au sein des sphères artistiques de Calcutta et de Shantiniketan, au Bengale. Dès le début du siècle, l’élite bengalie fut influencée par les théories panasiatiques d’Okakura Kakuzo, dans son approche de l’art chinois. A partir des années 1920, sous l’égide de Rabindranath Tagore, les premiers contacts directs entre artistes indiens et chinois eurent lieu et durèrent jusqu’aux années 1940. A partir des années 1930, l’avant-garde bengalie, dans sa quête d’une esthétique au contenu social et politique contestataire, trouva dans le mouvement de la gravure sur bois chinoise de nouveaux stimuli artistiques. * Nicolas Nercam is a lecturer in History of art, in the Fine art department in Bordeaux Montaigne University, UFR Humanités. He is a member of the research laboratory MICA, Bordeaux Montaigne University. Main research themes: Non-western artistic modernities - Contribution of the postcolonial discourse in modern and contemporary aesthetic - Globalization in contemporary arts - New connections between arts and politics. Contact: [email protected] 21 ARTL@S BULLETIN, Vol. 5, Issue 2 (Fall 2016) Nercam – The Gentleman, the Craftsman and the Activist This article analyses some aspects of the Chinese- Shantiniketan wished to create the ‘Craftsman Indian exchanges in the artistic domain and artist’ who was aware of his specific cultural studies their impact on the cultural production of environment.3 the two major ‘artistic homes’ in the first half of The town of Calcutta as well as the ashram of the 20th century in Bengal: the metropolis of Shantiniketan were the two main artistic homes Calcutta and the centre of Shantiniketan. with a pan-Indian dimension. During this period of At first sight, these two artistic centers of Bengal the struggle for emancipation, both centers were seem to be opposites. On the one hand, the actively involved in an anti-colonial movement. powerful metropolis of Calcutta, the capital of the Their cultural development was largely due to British India from 1773 to 1911 with Neo- their own capacities to welcome and to integrate Palladian and Victorian monuments, was the different artistic contributions coming from center of the economic, political and cultural different areas of civilization. The various colonial power in the Indian Subcontinent. This international exchanges that followed led to the colonial town was also an intellectual haven confrontation between the colonial contribution where, at the end of the 19th and the beginning of and the affirmation of the Indian nationalism. the 20th centuries, the ‘Bengali Renaissance’ an However, this conflict forged a new identity of important renewal movement started in politics, political importance that attracted the attention of religion, arts and science among the urban the Anglicized Indian elite. This ‘Western / Indian’ anglicized Indian elite.1 The city of Calcutta was a encounter also flourished through dialogues with melting pot in which different cultural inputs, different Asian cultures and in particular with the brought by the colonial trade routes, harmonized Far East; conditioned by the political and social in resonance with one another. context of this period. On the other hand, the site of Shantiniketan, Three major steps must be emphasized concerning located one hundred and eighty kilometers North the artistic exchanges between China and the two West of Calcutta in the rural Bengal was cultural centers of Bengal: transformed into the international University of - Firstly, the contribution of Okakura Kakuzo: Visva-Bharati, by the effort and willingness of During the late nineteenth century, there were no Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). Rapidly, the exchanges between Chinese and Indian artists. At artistic development grew in this ashram.2 Far this time, the knowledge and the appreciation of away from the colonial city of Calcutta, the rural Chinese art was largely based on the panasiatic surroundings of Shantiniketan provided a ideals (political as well as aesthetic) of the stimulating and new framework for social and Japanese philosopher and art critic Okakura artistic experiments. These attempts strived to Kakuzo who stayed in Calcutta from 1901 to 1902. link once again with the way of life and the traditional techniques of pre-colonial India. Taking - Secondly, the contribution of Rabindranath the opposing stance of the ‘Gentleman artist’ Tagore: In the 1920’s the first Sino-Indian artistic promoted by the cultural surroundings of Calcutta, interfaces took place, with the help of the poet. In 1924, Nandalal Bose was the first Indian artist to 1- Susobhan Sarkar, Bengal Renaissance and other essays (New Delhi The People’s Publishing House, 1970). accompany Rabindranath Tagore to China to meet 2- In the case of the center of Shantiniketan, the term ashram could be understood in its traditional meaning, especially during the first phase of Shantiniketan’s Chinese artists. development. At the end of the 19th century, Debendranath Tagore (Rabindranath’s father) nicknamed Maharishi (The Great Sage), member of the Brahmo Samaj, - And lastly, the contribution of the Second founded Shantiniketan (Haven of Peace), in a remote place, far away from the colonial city of Calcutta, to pray and meditate around a guru. This place was open to Communist International: In the 1930’s, a new all kind of people, irrespective of different caste. But, in the beginning of the 20th century, with the help of Rabindranath Tagore, Shantiniketan extended well beyond the traditional role of an ashram. The place became the testing ground for Rabindranath’s pedagogical theories. These theories, based on the recognition of the single individual, were against the traditional values of religion and opposed the 3- R. Siva Kumar, “Shantiniketan: A Development in three Movements” in Art and educational principles of the British. In 1918, a University (Visva-Bharati) was Visual Culture in India, 1857-2007, ed. Gayatri Sinha (Mumbai, Marg Publications, founded in the place of Shantiniketan. 2009), 104-117. ARTL@S BULLETIN, Vol. 5, Issue 2 (Fall 2016) 22 South-South Nercam – The Gentleman, the Craftsman and the Activist dissemination art network was created between in the house of Satyendranath Tagore’s son, Suren China and India, with the help of the Marxist Tagore. Okakura's philosophy played a very movements in connection with the Second important role in developing the interest of the International. This new network played a major Bengali intelligentsia in the art and culture of the role in elaborating a new aesthetic in India, Far East. The Japanese philosopher presented his particularly in Bengal, that linked social protests conception of Asian civilization through his book with formal innovations. The Ideals of the East6 Indian artists and intellectuals, especially in Jorasanko7 welcomed This article mainly analyzes the global structures this book and appreciated the pan-Asian of the dissemination of cultural networks between dimension with enthusiasm. Sister Nivedita, who China and the two Indian centers of Calcutta and understood the ideological importance of the Shantiniketan. book, wrote the introduction of the first edition in 1903. While comparing Okakura to a Japanese The Indian Perception of Chinese version of William Morris and drawing parallels with the Nihon Bijutsuin8 and the British Medieval arts Through the Prism of the Revival, Sister Nivedita insisted on Indian Japanese Expertise subjugation to imperial power. She wrote: “Art can only be developed by nations that are in a state of In Calcutta, at the beginning of the 20th century, freedom.”9 She concluded: “Asia, The Great the birth of the artistic movement of the Bengal Mother; is forever One.”10 In his book Okakura School, part of the ‘Bengali Renaissance’ was emphasizes on the strong unity of Asia, not only closely connected with the emergence of a new from a cultural and artistic standpoint but also nationalist discourse.4 This movement, with the from a political.
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