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It was his reading in in in 1923 of Rabindranath essay “Tapoban” which advocated the restoration of of India’s rural heritage and critiqued the naive imitation of of European modernism thus making an an an impact him He has the the the the epithet of of ‘the father of of folk renaissance in in India’ for creating an an an alternate vision of modern Indian identity At this point in in time his his familiarity with Sunayani Devi’s paintings and with Kalighat pats reshaped his artistic perception Roy turned back to the the villages of of of Bengal in in in search of of of the the “traditional” pat paintings The terracotta-reliefs of of of his native village also introduced in in in in his his works the simplified thick outlines providing his his art with such a a a a a a verve that that was unseen at at at at that that time Roy tried to incorporate the immensely expressive power of of the the the village artisans by emphasizing the the the lines at the the the expense of of colours using black outlines painted with a a a a a a brush on on white paper He forsook oils for for tempera and concentrated on primary colours Roy achieved his radical simplification through a a a a a a a a slow systematic and deliberate process Through folk idiom he he he sought to negate the the artistic individualism that was the the hallmark of colonial art There were structural affinities between Roy’s primitivism and the western avant garde artists of modernity through different routes Roy’s primitivism was based on on the notion of of village community as a a a a a a a weapon of of resistance to colonial rule In his folk derivative works he he he displayed an an ability to distil the the essential form that anticipated the the simplicity of his later works To his contemporaries these healthy drawings were a a a a a a perfect antidote to the the anemic and sterile figures of the Neo Bengal movement initiated by Abanindranath Tagore
His yearning for for formalist simplicity in in in terms of line colours shapes etc made him seek the wooden puppets of of Bankura and later to to child-art He was a a a a a a a a a collector of of paintings made by children and was particularly interest in in them: “not because of my affection for them them but because they are vitally important for me” His re-imagination of the the folk art his appropriation of of pictorial idioms from other cultures and his “strategic” mode of of producing paintings were issues of of seminal importance in in in the perception of of modernity in in in Indian art Roy aimed at at at restoring through art the pre-colonial community that had been severed from national life during British rule alienating the the elite from their cultural roots The intimate connection between the vitality of an an artistic tradition and its mythological richness became a a a a a a a a a central plank in Roy’s theory of collective art The support of certain intellectuals was influential in in in in in giving Roy the the acceptability to the the wider section of art lovers Foreigners like John Irwin Mary Milford Maie Casey came to visit Roy primarily as intellectuals and from the 1940s Roy’s international reputation began to grow In 1945 hiss first exhibition was was held at at the Arcade Gallery in in London which was was inaugurated by by the the novelist E M Forster An attempt was made by by these foreigners to appropriate Jamini Roy’s obsession with pure form into the prevalent discourse of modernism Mary Milford’s essay “A Modern Primitive” in in in in the the influential literary magazine Horizon introduced him to the the modernist intellectual milieu in in London Roy tried to make signature signature meaningless in in his his art praxis and it was his his signature signature style that sustained a a a a a a a middle-class sensibility The process of canonization that started during his lifetime was further strengthened within five years after his his death The price of his his paintings was was doubled Jamini Roy was was appropriated as as as a a a a a a a a a a a brand in in in in the market of art whose paintings divested of of any politicized aesthetics remained merely as the the remnants of of a a a a a a a lost cultural ethos The hunt for the the “original” Jamini Roy still goes on on on among the the connoisseurs His works in in the 1950s and 1960s were unduly critiqued as K G Subramanyan stated “Jamini Roy’s neo-folk painting had no valid lore [story] to to back itself with its its intentions were apparently
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