Important Notice

“For Roy, interest in folk art carried deeper implications than merely formal or stylistic possibilities. He would take up a subject and paint version after version, breaking and reforming the theme, as it were, over a few months—along process. [...]His interests were wide, ranging from the visual characteristics of home-sewn Bengal quilts to the Byzantine icon, from mythic tales closer home to Christian themes.”(Indian Portraits: The Face of a... “For Roy, interest in folk art carried deeper implications than merely formal or stylistic possibilities. He would take up a subject and paint version after version, breaking and reforming the theme, as it were, over a few months—along process. [...]His interests were wide, ranging from the visual characteristics of home-sewn Bengal quilts to the Byzantine icon, from mythic tales closer home to Christian themes.”(Indian Portraits: The Face of a People, New Delhi: Delhi Art Gallery, 2013, p409)

“The sure economy and restraint with which he gets a picture [...] shows as though he is a medium possessed by the singleminded vision of the ‘Pat’ draughtsman and yet in alliance with the mood of the most genuine elements in the world of art.” (Dr. Mulk Raj Anand, “Jamini Roy”, Jamini Roy, Jamini Roy Birth Centenary Exhibition, Calcutta: Birla Academy, 1987, p48)

This gouache on board is very similar to a work from the 1930s, titled “Toilet”. Roy effortlessly captures the moment of the village girl adjusting her attire after a bath. Roy’s use of complementary colours is especially striking. He delineates the foreground from the background with his use of flat tones for the woman and her clothes, and a more naturalistic rendering of the mud pot against the dawning sky. This work departs from his usual portrayal of women, bordering more on eroticism.

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