Art: Bengal
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Art: Bengal
The Times of India, Feb 12, 2012
Archana Khare Ghose
Bengal Art has remained in the shadows due to multiple reasons, but all that may just be changing. There is a surge in interest in it right now with three exhibitions and a book talking about it. One of the best illustrated books on the subject, The Art of Bengal, has just been released by the Delhi Art Gallery with a show in the capital covering nearly two centuries of the Bengal School through 200 works; it will open at the Harrington Street Arts Centre in Kolkata in April. The National Gallery of Modern Art is then hosting a retrospective of one of the school's stalwarts, Ram Kinkar Baij (1906-1980), and Apparao Galleries has launched a retrospective of the school’s later outcrop, Paris-based Sakti Burman, at the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi. That will travel to Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, in March and Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata, in April-May. The beginnings of the Bengal School can be traced to the arrival of European painters in the state in the late 18th century. Local artists couldn’t remain unaffected by the techniques introduced by these painters, giving birth to an interesting fusion. However, within a century, the school started questioning western influences and aligned itself with national political activity in the subcontinent. Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951) laid the foundation of this national school, triggering a modern Indian art idiom. It’s a different story, though, that the Progressive Artists Group in Mumbai, featuring names like FN Souza, MF Husain and SH Raza, was to reject the ideals of this school as they took modern Indian art to the next level. Kishore Singh, who headed Delhi Art Gallery’s Bengal Art project, analyses the reasons for the overshadowing of the Bengal School by the Progressives. “When Calcutta ceased to be the capital of India, everything, including art, experienced a loss of patronage. The centre of art shifted to Bombay which had big money, collectors and critics,” he says. Though some of the Bengal masters like Jamini Roy, Nandlal Bose and Rabindranath Tagore continue to be hot on the auction circuit, the school never matched the fame and price tags of the Progressives. Sonal Singh of Christie’s South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art department, reasons, “As many Bengal artists are national treasures, their works are non-exportable and those sold internationally are from western collections of the 30s and 40s.” The market availability of high quality Bengal Art, therefore, has been rare. Kolkata’s reluctance, apparent or otherwise, to take the lead in promoting the Bengal School is also an interesting cog in the story. Even though the school’s influence spread far beyond Bengal, it was, after all, born and nurtured in this city. Art commentator Ina Puri says, “Though some initiatives have been taken in Kolkata, there is general sluggishness. What more can you say when a book on the celebrated photographer Nemai Ghosh is brought out by Delhi’s Art Alive gallery, and another on Kolkata’s Raj Bhavan (which Puri edited) is also published in Delhi?” Sanjoy Mallik, associate professor in the department of history of art, Kala Bhavan, Viswa Bharti (Santiniketan), adds that it is a reflection of the changed economic situation of the country. “Delhi and Mumbai are far more in tandem with global changes which reflects in the art they promote.” With discerning collectors having their fill of the Progressives, experts feel that they should turn to Bengal Art next and give it its due in the market place.
