Important Notice

"I felt it was my duty to speak for the people, through my work." - JAMINI ROY

The influence of folk art in Jamini Roy's work was deeper than borrowing merely stylistic or structural elements, and involved adapting and reforming the themes, usually through several versions of the same work created over a long period of time. In his search for an artistic expression, the artist delved into his roots, often incorporating elements... "I felt it was my duty to speak for the people, through my work." - JAMINI ROY

The influence of folk art in Jamini Roy's work was deeper than borrowing merely stylistic or structural elements, and involved adapting and reforming the themes, usually through several versions of the same work created over a long period of time. In his search for an artistic expression, the artist delved into his roots, often incorporating elements from traditional art forms such as Kalighat patuas and Bankura paintings in his works. His paintings primarily feature characters, often from Indian mythology, rendered in a limited range of flat, earthy colours and decisive lines.

Lot 2 depicts a dancer, perhaps a gopini, in a sculptural tribhanga pose. Despite its simplicity, details such as her costume, accessories and the red alta on her hands and feet are carefully accentuated. The same pose is mirrored in lot 3 by Krishna and Radha in a symmetrical composition divided into two equal blocks. According to Manasij Majumdar, Roy "often preferred to make images with bare minimal content and a rich formalist handling. Even when he treated a motif comprising two or more figures, he always eschewed all inessential representational details to move towards extreme simplification of the basic form, defined by smooth easy curved brush strokes most often in black or dark Indian red... Their expressiveness lies not in any subtle, complex or elaborate thematic statement but in their rigorous simplicity, scrupulous elimination of naturalism and simple myth-like evocativeness." (Manasij Majumdar, "Jamini Roy Modernism's Nationalist Face," Jamini Roy: National Art Treasure, Kolkata: Purba, 2015, p. 55)

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