Important Notice

GaganendranathTagore's "...images are neither abstract nor archaic; he used form as a medium to communicate his feelings and emphasised the structural quality in his works through semi- abstraction." (The Art of Bengal, New Delhi: Delhi Art Gallery Pvt Ltd, 2012, p449)

Gaganendranath Tagore was influenced by the socio-political and cultural turbulence India was experiencing under the British. At a time when the elite Indian masses... GaganendranathTagore's "...images are neither abstract nor archaic; he used form as a medium to communicate his feelings and emphasised the structural quality in his works through semi- abstraction." (The Art of Bengal, New Delhi: Delhi Art Gallery Pvt Ltd, 2012, p449)

Gaganendranath Tagore was influenced by the socio-political and cultural turbulence India was experiencing under the British. At a time when the elite Indian masses were pitting works of Indian artists against European ones, thereby setting the European academic style as a benchmark, nationalism was gaining in importance. The Bengal school, a revivalist school entrenched in an ideology of returning to roots, placed importance on the styles of indigenous artists. Gaganendranath, a part of the Bengal school, was among the few who tried reconciling the gap between Western academic art and indigenous art.

Perhaps 'abstract' here can be interpreted as the concept of the abstract, rather than a visual representation. Tagore's works began showing influences of cubism in the early 20th century. Some of his later works were lauded by European critics for their expressionist leanings. Tagore's works were dynamic and expanding, assimilating technique, style and character as they evolved.

This watercolour is part of the Chaitanya Series, dating to 1913. It is part of a rare and coveted series of water-works of the artist. Chaitanya was a 16th century Brahman-turned-ascetic who founded the Chaitanya Vaishnavism movement and resurrected the community of Vaisnavas in Bengal and Orissa. Worshipped now by the Gaudiya Vaishnavite sect, Chaitanya was famed for his formidable intellect at the time. Speaking of Gaganendranath's style, "He painted several series of pictures on the events in the life of Chaitanya and on some legendary tales. Unlike Abanindranath and some of his pupils whose works show their indebtedness to such art traditions as Ajanta and Mughal paintings...[he] was not much influenced by any particular school of painting. He saw the world introspectively and with his own eyes, and make pictures on original lines. Bengal in its different moods has been revealed in his work.''(Dineshchandra Sen, "As I Knew Him", Gaganendranath Tagore, Calcutta: The Indian Society of Oriental Art, 1972, p10)

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