Jamini Roy’s earlier residence at 1/2B Ananda Kumar Chatterjee Lane (currently abandoned) in North Kolkata, where he lived for sixteen years. This was the home visited by Rabindranath Tagore and patrons like Maie Casey (wife of the then Bengal governor) and where he found success. The family was residents here till December 1949 when they moved to their current residence at Ballygunge Place East.
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Why Jamini Roy's Visual Language was Truly Avant-Garde This discussion examines Jamini’s invented language (of modernism) and what makes him a creative genius. This examines his crucial contribution to Modernism in India / the beginnings of true modernism in India.
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In the mid-1950s, Jamini Roy was working from his studio in Ballygunge, South Calcutta, within walking distance of his home. He showed little inclination to travel. Contemporary accounts note that he rarely left the city and routinely declined invitations to exhibitions and public appearances that would have taken him elsewhere. Yet one of his paintings hung thousands of miles away, on the dining-room wall of a house in Coogee, a coastal suburb of Sydney.
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From the humble lanes of Beliatore to the grand pages of Indian art history, Jamini Roy's life was a journey of artistic awakening. His artistic journey, deeply rooted in Bengal's folk traditions, reflects a bold departure from the Western academic styles. The following timeline translated from the Bengali text Jamini Roy: Jibonpanji, written by Debasish Mukhopadhyay, presents a chronological account of his life, education, and major achievements.
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When a retrospective of Jamini Roy opened in Bombay in 1980, art historian Yashodhara Dalmia wrote in The Times of India about his lifelong search for an authentic Indian form, deeming him the ‘first contemporary painter’. Moving away from academic realism, Roy drew on Bengal’s folk and tribal traditions to create a new visual language that was both modern and rooted in shared cultural sensibility.
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Jamini Roy and Gao Jianfu's Overlooked Collaboration This research note is about Gao Jianfu, the founding member of the Lingnan School of art, his travel to India, and a hitherto undocumented collaboration / influence with Jamini Roy.
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Xu Beihong, Jamini Roy, and a Possible Crossroad of Indian & Chinese Modernism The title of this note requires some explanation. Xu Beihong (Ju Peon) is widely regarded as the father of Chinese Modernism, while Jamini Roy is known as the father of Indian Modernism. [12,21] The works under discussion come from the estate of Jamini Roy, yet are believed to be by Xu Beihong, hence the framing as a “Tale of Two Fathers.”
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On 17th March 1945, Shahid Suhrawardy, the art critic for the esteemed daily The Statesman, wrote a critique on the first exhibition of the Calcutta Group - a collective of eight young artists whose motto was that “Art should be international and inter-dependent”.
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As we prepare for the exhibitions of Jamini Roy, Atul Bose, Gobardhan Ash, Bhanu Athaiya, and Rathin Maitra, we have realized that the context and continuum of the modernist movement around the early 20th century are somehow forgotten. We strive to bring them to light in hopes of more research and discussion. (Refer here) This write-up focuses on Calcutta and Bombay.
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Modern art is a continuum - so the above title is not appropriate but necessitated due to recent events. The artwork pictured here is crucially important and was extracted around 2017 from Jamini Roy’s residence in Ballygunge Place East. The work used to be so significant that it would be seen at the entrance of his studio and was used in every exhibition as a welcome continuing the Bengali tradition of Alpona.
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A pentimento (plural pentimenti) is an alteration in a painting which is evidenced by traces of previous work. The alteration shows that the artist changed their mind during the process of making the work.
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Jamini Roy, who was inspired by folk traditions created an Alpana or a floral motif that was considered to be sacred painting in Bengal because it was done on special occasions. The alpana which is usually done with hands and rice paint on the floor was done with tempera on cloth instead.
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Jamini Roy’s inspiration for folk art led him to experiment with sculpture along with paintings and sketches even though he had no formal sculpture training. This artwork depicts a preparatory sketch of three sculptures similar to crude dolls from folk art.
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Jamini Roy's rejection of the Western academic style of painting led to him being inspired by Bengali folk paintings. Before he made the complete switch to the pat style paintings, he was depicting village life and folk. This work shows a personal reconstruction of another Indian reality that was often not seen in urban areas.
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Life, Painting Style, and Most Famous Artworks To write in brief about the artist Jamini Roy - he was one of the most iconic figures of modern Indian art of the mid-20th century, Jamini Roy’s reputation spilled over from the art world into a larger public and popular domain, and even as his name became synonymous in modern Indian art history with a reinvented "Bengali folk" style.
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The Tate Modern states that Modernism refers to a global movement in society and culture that from the early decades of the twentieth century sought a new alignment with the experience and values of modern industrial life.
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It is generally acknowledged that modernism in European art begins with Cezanne and Picasso.
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Jamini Roy's earlier residence at 1/2B Ananda Kumar Chatterjee lane in North Kolkata was his home for sixteen years.
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In the midst of the triumph of Orientalists lead by E.B. Havell, the principal of the Government Art School in Calcutta, and Abanindranath Tagore, naturalism re-emerged in the 1920s in Calcutta partly due to Percy Brown's encouragement and because of the rise of the artists such as Hemendranath Majumdar.
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In India modernism starts due to a desire to move away from the academic art being practiced and advanced by the British. Abanindranath Tagore, Jamini Roy were the earliest of the Indigenous modernists.
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