Page 39 - Eye of the beholder

abanindranaTh TaGore
With his career beginning in the emergent years of the Swadeshi movement, Abanindranath Tagore was an active proponent of nationalist revivalist art. He studied at the Government School of Art, Calcutta, learnt painting under the guidance of Olinto Ghilardi, Charles Palmer and Japanese brushwork under Yokoyama Taikan. A meeting with E. B. Havell turned him towards the study of Mughal and Rajput painting, propelling the change in his style. Famous as the founder of what came to be known as the Bengal School, Abanindranath's works are modelled on there broad genres - Ethereal landscapes, historical events, and fairy tales of Bengal.
He retained his European-trained realist base even in his nationalist years, with selective assimilation of Ajanta frescos, Kalighat pats, Mughal, Japanese and Persian elements. His artistic journey moved from a nationalist framework to an intensely personified world of painting and writing, from a public to private domain. A highly influential teacher of repute who trained artists like Nandalal Bose and Asit Haldar, Abanindranath’s views on art can be seen in his Bageswari Lectures, and are epitomised in his work Arabian Nights and his assemblage of sculpture called Kutum-Katam.
Within a few years of the artist's death in 1951, his eldest son, Alokendranath, bequeathed almost the entire family collection of Abanindranath Tagore's paintings to the newly founded Rabindra Bharati Society Trust that took up residence on the site of their famous house on No. 5, Dwarakanath Tagore lane. As only a small number of the artist's paintings had been collected or given away in his lifetime, the Rabindra Bharati Society became the main repository of Abanindranath's works throughout his life. Banished into trunks inside the dark offices of the society, these paintings have remained in permanent storage ever since. As a result, the full range and brilliance of Abanindranath's works has never be effectively projected into the public domain. They remained intimately known only to a tiny circle of art connoisseurs and scholars in Bengal, some of whom like K. G. Subramanyan and R. Siva Kumar have long argued that the true measure of Abanindranath's talent is to be found in his works of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s but could do little to offer up a comprehensive profile of the master for the contemporary art world.
This particular painting is an undated watercolor on paper, and epitomizes Abanindranath's mastery of the 'wash' technique. As an artist who limited himself exclusively to working on paper, these small paintings are veritable jewels of art. Light filters through the mist, giving it the appearance of an ethereal winter morning. A lone passerine bird sits on a desolate branch. There is no other strong narrative element in the painting. But the viewer is free to build up a story mentally based on their own viewpoint. Just like in many other paintings of Abanindranath, what you see in the painting is the reflection of your own mind.
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