FEATURES ARCHIVE

Works by Jamini Roy, one of the most celebrated modern artists of India, feature strongly in this season’s South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art sale. Hailing from a small village in Bengal, the artist’s rural roots are reflected in his technique and subject matter.

Sent to study at the Governmental School of Art in Calcutta in 1903, the 16-year-old Roy learned the art of drawing classical nudes in accordance with prevailing academic tradition. Although he initially focused on painting impressionist landscapes and portraits, in the early 1920s he began to experiment more with the art of his own culture, looking to the living folk and tribal art of his origins for inspiration.

The Kalighat Idiom
He was greatly influenced by Kalighat paintings—popular folk paintings sold outside the Kalighat temple in Calcutta. Roy began adopting the Kalighat idiom, which manifested in bold sweeping brush strokes on the canvas, and made a complete switch to indigenous materials. Later on he abandoned the traditional canvas and made his own painting surfaces out of cloth and wood, using earth and vegetable colors. Through his representations of the rural everyday life of the Bengali community, Roy made art accessible to a wider section of people, becoming one of the most significant and influential painters of the 20th century.

Turning Point
Roy’s abandonment of art school-trained modernity in favor of the nostalgic lyricism of the works of Bengali folk artists marked a new phase in the history of Indian Modern Art. His depictions of aboriginal Santhal drummers and women figures gained popularity in the 1940s with collectors around the world.