Jamini Roy
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Jamini Roy (Bengali: যামিনী রায়)(1887-1972) was an Indian painter from Kolkata (Calcutta in West Bengal).
Roy achieved success first as a portrait painter. Then in the 1920s he changed his style to use elements from Bengali peasant art. This led to a period of great poverty, but he persevered. He had to make his own paints from basic materials. In 1929 he had his first one man exhibit in Calcutta, sponsored by the artist Mukul Dey.[1] Jamini Roy's work at the time was influenced by Abanindranath Tagore's Bengal School.[2] In the 1930s, leading Indian writers and critics began to recognize that Roy was forging a new style of art, intrinsically Indian and original. Ultimately Roy gained international fame for his distinctive style. About 1944, he befriended Austin Coates, who became an ardent supporter. Coates was one of few who Roy let observe him work. In 1929 while inaugurating Roy's exhibition sponsored by Mukul Dey at Calcutta, the then Statesman Editor Sir Alfred Watson said: "In a few moments I shall declare open the exhibition of the works of Mr. Jamini Roy. Those who study the various pictures will be able to trace the development of the mind of an artist constantly seeking his own mode of expression. His earlier work done under purely Western influence and consisting largely of small copies of larger works must be regarded as the exercises of one learning to use the tools of his craft competently and never quite at ease with his models. From this phase we see him gradually breaking away to a style of his own, moulded by many influences, but ultimately resulting in a treatment of mass and line which is almost Egyptian in its outlook. There is a primitive force, perhaps yet not quite sure of itself, but consciously striving to break into individual expression.
You must judge for yourselves how far Mr. Roy has been able to achieve the ends at which he is obviously aiming. His work will repay study. I see in it as I see in much of the painting in India today a real endeavour to recover a national art that shall be free from the sophisticated tradition of other countries, which have had a continuous art history. The work of those who are endeavouring to revive Indian art is commonly not appreciated in its true significance. It is sometimes assumed that revival means no more than a return to the methods and traditions of the past. That would be to create a school of copyists without visions and ideals of their own. From the point of view of art it would be a wholly worthless endeavour — a thing of no significance. Art to deserve the name must be living and expanding. Upon the minds of its exponents must be beating the illumination of all the ages. Whatever direction Indian art may take in the future it cannot, if it is to have value, go wholly back to the past any more than it can become merely imitative of the Western outlook. It must have a vision of its own. All Indian art today is in the stage of experiment. Its exponents are seeking some firm ground on which they can stand, and they are seeking it by numerous paths. It is that fact which makes the present period so intensely interesting to the student of art. Failures there must be, but any day may emerge the man who is to set Indian art on the road of high accomplishment.
Let me say one practical word, if I do not detain you too long. Art in any form cannot progress without encouragement. The artist must live and he must live by the sale of his work. In India as elsewhere the days when the churches and the princes were the patrons of art have passed. Encouragement today must come from a wider circle. I would say to those who have money to spare buy Indian art with courage. You may obtain some things of little worth; you may, on the other hand, acquire cheaply something that is destined to have great value. What does it matter whether you make mistakes or not. By encouraging those who are striving to give in line and colour a fresh expression to Indian thought you are helping forward a movement that we all hope is destined to add a fresh lustre to the country."
[edit] Key works
- "Bride and two Companions", 1952, tempera on card, 75 x 39 cm. Coates described the painting: "Note the magnificent indigo of Bengal, and how the palms of the bride's hands are smeared with red sandalpaste. Jamini Roy's choice of colours looks at first sight purely decorative. In fact, nearly every thing in his pictures has a reason and a meaning." [3]
- "Dual Cats with one Crayfish", 1968, tempera on card, 55.5 x 44 cm. Coates wrote: "Yet another new style, colours reduced in number and very restrained, an almost overwhelming sense of formality." [3]
[edit] References
- ^ "The First But Forgotten Exhibition" [of 1929] by Satyasri Ukil, reprinted from 'Art & Deal', May-June, 2000: http://www.chitralekha.org/jamini.htm Includes a catalog list of titles (and prices).
- ^ The Statesman newspaper of October 1, 1929, page 14 review of the exhibition. Stated in the Ukil reference cited here.
- ^ a b Bonhams auction.
