Page 71 - Eye of the beholder

JAMINI ROY [1887-1972]: PRIMITIVE LANGUAGE REDEFINED
The name of of Jamini Roy remains the the most significant in in in the the development of of modern Indian art art art with his compulsive modernist vision of of folk art art art that made him memorable artist of of the late colonial era He was known as as the the father of folk art renaissance in India who gave an an alternative modern Indian identity In In the the 1920s the the definition of nationhood had shifted from pan India to the the local and and Jamini Roy’s works were a a a a a a a a a a dynamic and and radical expression of the the local that was in opposition to to the historicism of pan Indian Bengal art movement By the the the the end of of the the the the first decade of of the the the the twentieth century the the the the political and cultural climate in Bengal had become charged As a a a a a a sensitive intelligent young man Jamini Roy responded to the the spirit of of his his time The message of of return to the the village struck a a a strong chord in his his conscious and marked a a a a a turning point not only in in in in his professional career but in in in in the development of of modernity at at at this critical juncture Rejecting the pale decorative and anatomically unrealistic style of Bengal School that by the 1920s had become sterile and and anemic and and finding his quasi realistic Post-Impressionist style mimetic of European modernism he was searching for his individual visual language that would be soul satisfying artistically In discovering the rural and folk culture of of the district of of Bankura he he interfaced with its arts and craft forms that created for Indian Indian modernism a a a a a a a singular trajectory of what has been termed ‘Indian Primitivism’ In In In the process he became a a self confessed pilgrim of pure form throughout his life This was made possible by by his his discovery in in 1923 of an an essay written by by Rabindranath Tagore ‘Tapoban’ (Message of the the Forest) in in which the the words that captured his imagination were “But there’s this wondrous thing in in in in India that the the the fountainhead of the the the civilization is is not in in in in the the city but in in in the the forest ” Equally Gaganendranath Tagore who invited Jamini Roy to copy a a a a a a portrait in in in Tagore’s household proved to to be seminal in in in his shift towards rural culture Gaganendranath Tagore was an an an avid collector of Bengali folk objects as as scrolls quilts dolls and figurines Jamini Roy immediately made a a a a a a a a a connection with these art forms that appeared to to him as an an ‘inspirational storehouse of of forms ’ The naive-folk paintings of of Sunayani Devi (Gaganendranath sister) also perhaps may have made an an an impact on his sensibility bringing back childhood memories of folk artisans in his native village Beliatore which he later revisited as part of his his artistic pilgrimage These exposures led to the the artist artist finding his his voice and fin in in the the spirit of a a a a a true rebel he marginalized colours from his pictorial space He was born at at Beliatore a a a a a a a a a a village in the Bankura district which had a a a a a a a a a a rich tradition of terracotta sculptures and and folk art and and he he lived here for a a a a a a a a number of years This isolated idyllic backdrop contributed in in in Jamini Roy’s search of the life in in in art As a a a a a child his first encounter with the Santhals left a a a a a a a permanent impression on on him He received his formal training at the the Government Art College in in in Calcutta where he he he he got rigorous instructions in in in the the European mode of of art He soon became dissatisfied with the limitation of of expression and his search for alternative artistic forms began Roy’s reputation as one of the best portrait painters and his brief but fascinating post-impressionist period did not prevent this search He found support of of his personal views in in in in the paintings of of Rabindranath Tagore And although he he belonged to the circle of academic artists’ hostile to to Abanindranath Tagore he he remained close to to his guru 65