jamini roy

born in 1887 in a village of the bankura county in the state

of west bengal, india. this has been, and continue to be, an
area especially rich with a folk art tradition, jamini roy
arrived in kolkata in 1903 to enroll in the govt. school of
art. he was the most famous pupil of abanindranath tagore,
whose contribution to the emergence of modern art in
india remains unquestionable.
after the academic training in the calcutta school of art in
the early 1920s, some of his works bore residues of the
bengal school mannerisms. he made some brilliant forays
into a post-impressionist genre of landscapes and portraits,
yet roy’s early career was calamitous. he endured extreme
poverty and his work was lack-lustre and banal.
disheartened, roy began a wrenched journey to discover
his own true style, undertaking odd jobs to survive. roy
discovered the answer to his predicament right in rural
bengal, in kalighat paintings, the popular bazaar paintings
sold outside the kalighat temple in calcutta.
in 1925, he began experimenting along the lines of the
kalighat idiom, and by the early 1930s he had made a
complete switch to indigenous materials. his fascination
with the indigenous art of kalighat painting and the
terracotta's of the vishnupur temple, grew unabated.
quietly, yet firmly, the bold simplicity, linear flow began
to suffuse his work. in his mid-thirties, he abandoned his
tame and conventional art practice. he abandoned the
canvas and made his own painting surfaces out of cloth,
wood, even mats coated with lime, and painted using earth
and vegetable colours. the 1930's saw the beginning of his
scintillating career, which spanned well into the 60's.
roy enacted a complete retreat from the middle class
congruity of art-school trained modernity and withdrew
into the nostalgic lyricism of the true bengali folk painters.
this marked a new phase in the history of indian modern
art, with a strategic denial of its 'modern' traces. though
his own amazing style took off and matured from there, he
never forgot his debt to the bengali village and especially
to kalighat paintings.
however, jamini roy's art too awaited the same fate as
some of his celebrated predecessors like abanindranath
and raja ravi varma. the neat patterning, rythmic outlines
and flat, bright colours were extracted from his works and
tamed into a standardized formula and a flood of perfected
copies overcame the master.
jamini's presentation of santhal drummers, toiling
blacksmith, krishna-balaram and women figures like
radhas, gopi's, pujarinis and virgin and child became very
popular during the 1940s and his collectors included the
middle-class bengalis as well as the european community.
his work was exhibited in london in 1946 and in new york
in 1953. he was honored with the state award of padma
bhushan (?) in 1955.
he died a much celebrated and revolutionary artist, at the
age of 85, in calcutta in 1972.