Jamini RoyJamini Roy was born in Bengal in 1887 into a middle-class family

of land-owners. When he was sixteen he was sent to study at

the Government School of Art in Calcutta. He was taught to

paint in the prevailing academic tradition drawing Classical

nudes and painting in oils and in 1908 he received his Diploma in

Fine Art. However, he soon realised that he needed to draw

inspiration, not from Western traditions, but from his own

culture, and so he looked to the living folk and tribal art for

inspiration. He was most influenced by the Kaiighat Pat, with its

bold sweeping brush-strokes. He moved away from his earlier

impressionist landscapes and portraits and between 1921 and

1924 began his first period of experimentation with the Santhal

dance as his starting point. His new style was both a reaction

against the Bengal School and the Western tradition. His

underlying quest was threefold to capture the essence of

simplicity embodied in the life of the folk people; to make art

accessible to a wider section of people; and to give Indian art its

own identity. He was awarded the Padma Bhusan in 1955. His

work has been exhibited extensively in international exhibitions

and can be found in many private and public collections such as

the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. He spent most of his

life living and working in Calcutta.

B. 1887 D.1972

JESUS - OIL PAINTING

WOMAN - OIL PAINTINGSEATED WOMAN -

OIL PAINTING

Pictures made by Jamini Roy

SWAANAYANESHA - OIL PAINTING

CHRIST - OIL PAINTING

Cat and the lobster, Tempera on paper

Roy and traditional paintings

The art of Roy is inspired by both traditional Indian folk and village arts & Western methods of painting. These examples

illustrate this appropriately, e.g. many of his themes are around Jesus who is a Christian

icon in Western society, however Roy applies aspects of traditional Indian arts, e.g. ‘Christ’ where he has incorporated a

mosaic texture and Indian symbols.

More about Jamini Roy

‘Swaana Yanesha’ typifies Jamini Roys painting style. It is again a combination of Western and

Eastern ideas. The subject matter depicts a traditional Indian god & the colours used are also reminiscent of those used in traditional Indian painting. However the style Roy has

selected to portray this theme in is styalised and abstract in nature, typical of modern, Western

paintings.

Imaginations of Jamini Roy

Jamini Roy’s re-imagination of the folk art, his appropriation of pictorial idioms from

other cultures and his “strategic” mode ofproducing paintings are the issues of seminalimportance in the perception of modernity inIndian art. This paper seeks to probe into thediverse responses to the artist, therebyproblematizing the notions of modernity,tradition, and the validation of the marginal folkculture in a colonial reality.

Some other Pre-modern artists

Abanindranath Tagore (1871–1951)Amrita Sher-Gil (1913–1942)Gopal Rao (1880–1945)Jamini Roy (1887–1972)Kalipada Ghoshal (1906–1995)Maniam (1924–1968)Manishi Dey (1909–1966)Mukul Chandra Dey (1895–1989)Nandalal Bose (1882-1966)Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941)Raja Ravi Varma (1848–1906)S G Thakur Singh (1899–1976)Silpi (1919–1983)Benode Behari Mukherjee (1904–1980)Gaganendranath Tagore (1867–1938)Sailoz Mookherjea (1906–1960)