Page 45 - Eye of the beholder

effect The final lines and and colours and and other details were reinforced which marked the the painting as as finished Tempera was Majumdar’s preferred medium to enhance details particularly for fine jewellery flowers adornments etc The influence of Japanese art art was manifest particularly in the the wash technique and the the two artists who made a a a a a a a a deep impact on Majumdar sensibility and and generally on the modern Indian art were Hisida Shunsho and and Yokoyama Taikan Majumdar worked in the layered wash technique as as his visionary subject-matter lent itself appropriately to to the the fulfillment of of his passionate devotion to to familiar Hindu eternal themes of of Radha- Krishna and Chaitanya This approach made his his art introspective that marked a a a a a a a a a a a a a a turn away from nature and man man The representation of the human form was equally expressionistic in in its attenuation which reflects his idea of spirituality wherein he he he transformed them to belong to a a a a a a a a a a transcendental realm Majumdar’s lyrical and sentimental style was expressed through spatial compositions with fine outlined drawings detailed ornamentation and highly mannered postures and expressions that became representative of his visual expression expression which later reflected in in in his paintings based on the life of Chaitanya Vaishnava stories suited his personal faith and hence chose to engage in in in painting scenes from the the life of the the Vaishnava saint Chaitanya which were characterized by sadness and resignation His notion of of engaging with line was to create a a a a a sense of of exquisiteness in in in compositional structuring that that resulted in in in in manifesting this seminal tool with a a a a a a a a poetic character that that was as as as as as as mellifluous as as as as as as it it it was was subtle as as as as as as graceful and charming as as as as as as it it it was was spiritual Reinforcing this were his his somber subdued coloured tones that remained the hall mark of his his visual language intensifying his his his personal approach in in in in evoking his his his meditations on on on this subject and undeniably was his own personal vision The compositions had clarity with with subdued and suffused light with with firmly outlined images thus marking his individual posturing of style in in in in in in moving away from the haze that characterized characterized Abanindranath’s works An ambient aura of spirituality characterized characterized his his his paintings consequent to his his his technique thus bringing about a a a correspondence of his his his concept with the the the visual language and the the the technique that remains at at the the the heart of his works In In many ways it it connects to the the past tradition of of Indian miniatures because of of the the small format he preferred to to to to work with According to to to to Tapati Guha Thakurta "line and tone blended often to to to to contribute to delicate and and supple figure drawing combined with the sharpness and and precision of Mughal miniature drawings Such spatial compositions with fine outlined drawing drawing detailed ornamentation and and highly mannered postures and and expressions became typical of of most of of the paintings of Mazumdar" His works thus characterized by simplicity and sincerity lacked the romance of sophistication which had been set as parameters for defining modernity by the contemporary critics then and hence the the de de rich acknowledgement of his art was consequently denied to him Binod Behari Mukherjee referred to his works as “modern expression of India’s traditional art” In In 1921 Kshitindranath was appointed Principal of of the Indian Society of of Oriental Art Calcutta and from 1942-64 he he became Principal of the Art Department at Allahabad University SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Jaya Appaswamy “Kshitindranath Majumdar” Lalit Kala Academi New Delhi 1967
Tapati Guha Thakurta “The Making of a a a a a a a a a a a a New ‘Indian’ Art: Artists Aesthetics and Nationalism in in Bengal c c 1850– 1920” Cambridge South Asia 1992
Partha Mitter “Art and Nationalism in Colonial India 1850–1922: Occidental Orientations” Cambridge University Press 1995
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