Abanindranath Tagore, the nephew of Rabindranath
Tagore, was born on 7th August 1871. He was one of the most prominent
artists of the Bengal school of painting, along with being the first
major supporter of swadeshi values in the Indian art. Abanindranath is
also regarded as a proficient and accomplished writer. The painter tried
to modernize Moghul and Rajput traditions as an answer to the growing
influence of Western art under the British Raj. With this biography, we
are trying to throw light on the life history of Abanindranath Tagore:
Abanindranath Tagore was born in the Jorasanko town of West Bengal. The
younger bother of Gaganendranath Tagore, an eminent artist,
Abanindranath was introduced to art in the 1880s, when he was studying
at the Sanskrit College. In the year 1889, he married Srimati Suhasini
Devi, the daughter of Bhujagendra Bhusan Chatterjee. It was around this
time that he left the Sanskrit College and joined St. Xavier's College
as a special student for one and a half years.
In 1897, the Vice-Principal of 'Calcutta Government School of Art'
started teaching the traditional European academic manner to
Abanindranath Tagore. During that time, Tagore developed an interest in
watercolors and also came under the influence of Mughal art. He made
some beautiful paintings based on the life of Lord Krishna, reflecting a
strong influence of the Mughal style. A meeting with E.B. Havell
convinced Abanindranath Tagore to work with him in the process of the
renewal of the style of teaching at the Calcutta School of Art.
His Style
Abanindranath Tagore believed in the traditional Indian techniques of
painting. His philosophy existed in rejecting the materialistic art of
the west and coming back to the Indian traditional art forms. He was
very much influenced by the Mughal School of painting as well as
Whistler's Aestheticism. In his later works, Abanindranath started
integrating Chinese and Japanese calligraphic traditions into his style.
The intention behind this move was to construct an amalgamation of the
modern pan-Asian artistic tradition and the common aspects of Eastern
spiritual and artistic culture.
