Echo of Love

Unlike Jamini Roy, Hemendranath Mazumdar resisted the 'Indianising' trends of the Bengal School and had a successful career as an Academic painter. While the style of his paintings followed in the tradition of Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) and covered a range of religious and mythological themes, he was most known for a body of work that focused on sensual studies of women. His models are often posed in a formal compositional setting that evokes the timelessness of classical sculpture. Paintings of nude or semi-nude women might have caused a furor to the Victorian audience of his day. To ensure a sense of modesty was upheld in his work, Mazumdar draped his models in semi-transparent or wet saris to outline the contours of the body which in turn showcased his great technical skill at depicting texture and drapery.