How to flourish Modern painting in India.

A fantastic bird (with poem inscribed in Bengali), Rabindranath Tagore, Indian Modern Painting. 

What is Modern paintings and who are the Modern  painting artists or what is the Modern painting Colours? These questions are most searchable when talking about the Modern art and it's history . Indian modern painting artists like Rabindranath Tagore, Amrita Shergil, Gaganendranath Tagore, F.N. Souza, M.F.Hussain, Tayeb Mehta, etc., were highly inspired by the style of western Modernism and its philosophy .

The style of Modern painting developed in Europe during the period of 1860 - 1970 A.D . In this new style the artist started painting for their own pleasure and expression. The Modern artists didn't care for the desire or liking of others and gave some new or metaphysical shape to the living or visible objects by their own typical imagination . When in the middle of the 19th century camera was invented , religious rigidity at his high and socio-political situation was unstable , the artists were compelled to think in the new direction. While in painting it took months to complete a realistic landscape, camera did the same job in a fraction of second. So in order artists faces the challenge and invent a new direction of art practices which is more emotional and experimental .

The Modern artists says that they are doing some experiments, in which they feels a devine pleasure by expressing their emotions and ideas freely like a mystic poetry in blank verse . Some artists express their emotions and Impressions through Colours only. According to the artists every patch of Colour carries some idea . The date perhaps most important for the birth of Modern painting is 1863, when the painting titled  " The luncheon on the grass " exhibited by Edward Manet in his exhibition placed in Paris. This is the first painting of Impressionism also. The Romanticists, Realists and Impressionists are the pioneer of Modern art . By the late 19th century, Post impressionism, Symbolism, and later Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism ,etc.,enriched the Modern art movement in West. Artists like Edward Manet, Claude Monet, Vincent Van gaugh, Paul Cezanne, Pablo Picasso, Henry Matisse, Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Salvadar Dali, etc. Are the main contributor of Modern art movement.

History of Indian Modern Painting.

Santhal Dance, Jamini Roy, Modern Painting.

The story of Modern Indian paintings  is the story of a nation's soul in search of its own identity. The Modern Indian artists like Rabindranath Tagore, Amrita Shergil , Gaganendranath Tagore, express Their thoughts in a new styles  inspired from western Modernism. The history of Modern Indian painting established during late 19 th century to mid 20 th century.Mughal brought his own attenuation and deviation, but these were adumberations that fell within the scope of adaptation by its value pattern and integrating gestalt.

Indian society has been ever open-minded. It never closed its mind to outside influence, became impervious to new styles, thoughts and trends .  By 1890 , the British rule had been firmly established. As far as the trends are concerned, we get a true picture from various Art exhibitions which were held before 1947, and also from the limited list of picture of the period 1900 and later. During this early period,there were artist like J.A. Lalkaka ,Atul Bose, Raja Ravi verma, M.V.Dhurandhar, M.F.Pithawala, Hemendranath Majumdar,who were inspired by the western art. They painted in the Academic style.

Ravi verma painting.

Raja Ravi verma(1848-1906) took India back to feudal themes. He was one of the first Indian artist, who adopted the oil painting techniques from  West . His work was a fusion of Indian themes and western academics. Also, given his background,the influence of the 19th century Parsi theatre, Malayalam classics, Hindu mythology and Kerala Kathakali idioms were absorbed within his imagination. In his Oleograph reproductions, he gave the Indian public images with which they were most comfortable and reached out to a wider audience, creating a 'Calender' image which has kept its wonderful appeal until today .

 Alongwith their effort and contemporaneous with them emerged the new Indian style of Bengal school led by Abanindranath Tagore and E.B. Havell.  Abnindranath Tagore(1871-1951) , the first major artistic figure of  Indian Art,evolved a 'National' style and school of Painting. He is the pioneer of renaissance art movement in India. 

There were artists who didn't belong to either of the two groups - those who introduced us to the Modern period of Painting. They include Gaganendranath Tagore, Amrita Shergil, Jamini Roy and Rabindranath Tagore . They have the universal vission and pursuing there own creative experimentation, giving a new diversity to Modern indian painting.

This art based on new isms flourished in the country with a great speed after independence and the main centres were Calcutta, Bombay and Delhi . Calcutta was already a centre of the renaissance art movement. The artists like Gopal Ghosh, Pradosh Dasgupta, Gobardhan Aash, Hemant Mishra, Nirode Majumdar, Paritosh Sen etc., are the main artists of Calcutta Group . They are inspired from impressionism and their subject matter is humanistic . However,the urgency necessary to give a jolt and momentum to the movement of Modern Indian painting came from Bombay progressive Artist Group (P.A.G.) whose sense of continuity was overwhelmed by their need to disrupt. Artists like F.N Souza, K.H.Ara, M.F.Hussain, H.A. Gade , S.A. Bakre were the original members and later S.H.Raja, Tayeb Mehta join this group. They emphasised a new conceptual freedom in the use of Colour, allowing it to express their individual emotions, desperate to break the past orthodoxies . Delhi also produced some efficient artists who became famous throughout India likes Shailoz Mukherji, Biren Dey, B.C. Sanyal, Satish Gujral, Krishna Reddy ,etc .

Rabindranath Tagore

The great poet Shri RabindraNath Tagore (1861-1941) was the first man in India to paint in Modern art, which he learnt in Europe . He was very much impressed by Paul Klee, Emile Nolde and other expressionists . In the same time the effects of the new experiments that were taking place in western art spread in India by Rabindranath Tagore . He began transforming his doodling and play with lines into a spontaneous thought processes . Firstly, there is a hint of a line, then the line becomes form. This creation of form is a source of endless wonder. He says that..." I, as an artist, cannot claim any merit for my courage, for it is the unconscious courage of the unsophisticated, like that of one who walks in dream on perilous path, who is saved only because he is blind to the risk. The only training which i had from my young days was the training in rhythm, the rhythm in thoughts, sounds, etc . In his work distortions are not deliberate, whatever the variation of forms, proportions, Colours and the atmosphere comes from the process of rhythmic automatisms.

Gaganendranath Tagore

Princess of the Enchanted palace,
Gaganendranath Tagore,
Modern painting.

Gaganendranath Tagore (1867-1938) known as  one of the pioneer artist of modern art in India.  In his early art practices ,he was inspired by the visiting Japanese artist Yokohama Taikan and other Far Eastern styles. He was probably the first artist to introduce the various forms of French painting in India and later influenced by experimentalist art practices like Art nouveaux, Futurism , Expressionism and Cubism in Europe at that time and was allured towards geometric compositions and forms. He inaugurated the“Neo-Oriental school of art”. Its influence spread across the country while it incorporated various strains of South Asian influences. He is the only Indian artist before the 1940s to make use of the language  of Cubism in his painting. From 1925 onwards, the artist developed a significant post-cubist styles in his paintings. An important feature of many of his paintings was their extraordinary brightness and gorgeousness of colours. The introduction of geometric shapes and forms featured in the second stage of his trials with various methods. After 1930 there was a indication in his paintings of the expression of feelings symbolic of death and supernatural objects.

Jamini Roy

Jamini Roy (1887-1972) was the first Indian artist to draw sustainable inspiration from the living folk and tribal art forms and traditions, while realising the underlying unity this idiom share with the Modern art. He was highly inspired by the urban-rural hybrid Kalighat Pat and it's bold sweeping brush strokes . 1921-24 marked the first period of his experimentation,with the Santhal motifs being the chosen trigger of departure, away from his western academic idiom of portraits and impressionist landscapes. His art was a reaction against the Bengal school orthodoxies. His works defined by strict lines, fluid caligraphic strokes, simple symmetrical and high value bright colours.

Though coming from diverse backgrounds, his intention of wanting art to reach out a wider section of the population was similar to Ravi verma's .  His style of Painting allow the mass productions to fulfill his intention above . Further,his search,at a time of colonial domination,with the need to be contemporary and to find an Indian individuality , has been seen to metaphorically merge with the Indian Modern art movement. His Christ series best reflects the culmination of this process.

Amrita Shergil

Resting,
Amrita Shergil,
Modern Painting.

Amrita Shergil (1912-1941) created an own language which influenced by European post-impressionist style. She was highly inspired by Paul Cezanne and Paul Gauguin works. Her vision was highlighted by her emphasis on colour, which contrasted with the atmospheric mistiness characterising the Bengal school works. After her initial academic studies, her themes came to focus on mostly rural visions of the village woman, where her helplessness would merge with a vibrant sense of joy . Her most creative works came after return from visiting the Ajanta frescoes. At that time she painted - ' The fruit vendors '(Jan.1937) , ' The brides toilet '(April.1937), ' Brahmacharis '(May.1937), and ' The south Indian villagers going to market '(Nov.1937) . Later she transform her style and painted such as 'Resting' and 'Two girls'(1939) showed a change towards a more reflective art . A comparison of 'Brides toilet' and 'Resting' clearly reveals the development . Both use the same subject matter and compositional structure, but the interaction and proximity of the figures reveals a different level of personal comfort and understanding . This period of transition is approaching a greater reflection of  more consciousness and more stylisation in the sense of nature . Rabindranath Tagore passed away in 1941  and the same year in December, Amrita Shergil's death denied the world a chance to see her art mature further .
With the passing of these two pioneers and the commencement of India's indirect participation in world war II the two major art centres, Calcutta and Bombay  were affected . Artists like Zainul Abedin, Chittoprasad and Somnath Hore, expressed a sentimental and socially responsive expressionism. And there after the three major groups ( Calcutta group, Bombay P.A.G ,and Delhi group) carried on the legacy of Indian Modern art .

Also read.......Indian painting and it's beauty.