Important Notice

"Unless you feel within you the omnipresent bliss of existence, you like things, your love or liking grows within you day by day, and it is that love which inspires you to your work, an attempt at mastering mere technique is quite futile." - Nandalal Bose

One of India's leading artists of the 20th century, Bose was among the few who sought to reinvigorate Indian art by rooting it in Indian tradition, shunning the overarching Western... "Unless you feel within you the omnipresent bliss of existence, you like things, your love or liking grows within you day by day, and it is that love which inspires you to your work, an attempt at mastering mere technique is quite futile." - Nandalal Bose

One of India's leading artists of the 20th century, Bose was among the few who sought to reinvigorate Indian art by rooting it in Indian tradition, shunning the overarching Western academic approach to art that prevailed at the time. He trained under Abanindranath Tagore at the Calcutta School of Art in 1905 and forged a lasting friendship with him. Abanindranath later invited him to work at Jorasanko, where he came in contact with A. K. Coomaraswamy, Rabindranath Tagore, and Count Okakura. An impeccable draughtsman, he explored media like linocuts, woodcuts, dry point, etching and lithography beyond their commercial possibilities. He was closely associated with the Bengal School, which explored oriental techniques and leveraged them to resonate with an Indian ethos. In 1920, he joined Kala Bhavan at Shantiniketan as a teacher, and taught many notable Indian Modernists, including K. G. Subramanyan.

The two collages seen here, one of a lady and the other titled Kirtonia - the latter a common family name, but also a word for a person who sings kirtans or devotional songs, are part of a series made by Bose in the 1950s. This series marked an important moment in his development as an artist and a teacher, and were featured in a catalogue published by the National Gallery of Modern Art on the centenary of the artist. In one of his sessions with his students, Bose improvised with paper shreds to create forms. When his students returned with these shapes mounted on board, he delved into the concept and created unpremeditated collages. In a letter to Sagarmoy Ghosh, former editor of Anandamela, a Bengali children's magazine, he explained, "I was constantly picking up pieces of discarded paper, letters, torn envelopes, and giving them shapes....thus began a manner of work more powerful in its import than the kind of work with hesitant pencil lines" (quoted from "The Great Journey of Shapes: Collages of Nandalal Bose" by Samindranath Majumdar and Anuradha Ghosh, Art Etc. News and Views, July 2012). Each collage emphasises the relation between subject and space. The subject draws attention by the lack of background detailing. With swift, fluid strokes, Bose transforms the nebulousness of the cut-outs to graceful women.

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