By:-Homi Chatterjee
This segmented article is a brief journey of Indian art,covering more than a century,from the inception of Bengal school to the Works of Sanat Chatterjee.It all started in the late sixteen century (c.1501 to c.1600) in Bengal.During the reign of the liberal ruler Hossain Shah Bengal witnessed the first renaissance in the 16th century when Sri Chaitanya’s idealism and liberalism influenced a sect of the upper literal class of people.
The Second Renaissance of Bengal in the late 18th century (c.1701 to c.1800) was considered to be propagated by Raja Ram Mohan Roy.
Having the great influence of his father, who was also a Vaishnavite. Roy is considered to be the "Father of the Bengal Renaissance", the movement, which had the philosophical basis of having a unique version of liberalism and modernity.
The Bengal School of Art was an art movement that evolved during the second Bengal renaissance, with a style of Indian painting as an alternative to company style of paintings ,which were more documental than imaginative. Bengal School of Art flourished throughout British India in the early 20th century (c.1901 to c.2000), also known as 'Indian style of painting' in its early days.Initially encouraged by E.B. Havell and lately led by Abanindranath Tagore and others, with Indian nationalism (swadeshi) as its core concept.
This group felt that a genuine Indian style of painting must draw inspiration from the non-western art tradition and should try to capture the spiritual essence of the East.
At the same time, these artists were also influenced by the art of the Japanese artists who visited India at that time, to develop an Asian Art movement. The initial artists are known for borrowing profusion from Chinese calligraphy, Japanese coloring, and Persian finish.
Abanindranath Tagore ,the nephew of the poet Rabindranath Tagore, first created the 'Indian Society of Oriental Art' and later went on to establish the Bengal school of art, advocated in favor of a nationalistic Indian art derived from Indian art history, drawing inspiration from the Ajanta Caves.
Abanindranath Tagore synthesized European transparent watercolor and Indian tempera called the ‘Wash technique’. This technique became the hallmark of Bengal School, was inspired and assisted by Japanese art stalwart Okakura Kakuzo.
Okakura Kakuzo was invited to India. In 1901-02 by Josephine MacLeod, an American pupil of Swami Vivekananda. Okakura Kakuzō came with a wish to invite Swami Vivekananda to Japan, Vivekananda had become world-famous by that time. However, Swami Vivekananda passed away in 1902 itself. During his stay in India, Okakura Kakuzō came in touch with the Abanindranath and his elder brother Gaganendranath Tagore.
Okakura Kakuzō taught many aspects of Japanese art to the Tagore brothers.After Okakura Kakuzō went back to Japan, he sent two Japanese artists, Yokoyama Taikan and Hishida Shunso to India. These three artists taught Japanese brush-n-ink works, woodblock, and watercolor wash techniques to Abanindranath and his elder brother Gaganendranath Tagore, which impacted Indian art to a great extent.
Abanindranath Tagore's close students included Nandalal Bose, Asit Kumar Haldar, Samarendranath Gupta, Kshitindranath Majumdar, Surendranath Ganguly, Sarada Ukil, Kalipada Ghoshal, Manishi Dey, Mukul Dey, K. Venkatappa,Ayodhya Prasad,Hakim Muhammad Khan and Ranada Ukil
One of the prominent artists who evolved from the Bengal school of art was Asit Haldar. Haldar was born in Jorasanko in 1890. His maternal grandmother was the sister of Rabindranath Tagore, making him Tagore's grandnephew. Being very close and relative to Abanindranath and Rabindranath Tagore, he got the opportunity to work very closely with them. He learned intricacies and style developed by Abanindranath Tagore and was his pupil from 1906 for around half a decade. From 1911 to 1915 he was an art teacher at Shantiniketan. From 1910 onwards he dedicated quite some time copying works of Ajanta Caves paintings under Lady C. J. Herringham, in around 1921, Haldar also worked on copying the Jogimara and Bagh cave paintings. He assisted Tagore with cultural and artistic activities Santiniketan in the period 1911-23, where he also worked as the first principal of Kala Bhavana in Santiniketan in 1923,. He worked as Principal of the Maharaja’s School of Arts and Crafts, Jaipur for around one year in 1924 thereafter moved to the Government School of Arts and Crafts in Lucknow in the year 1925 as principal and worked till 1945.He was the first Indian to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, London in 1934.
Haldar worked with equal ease in oil, tempera, watercolors, silk, and a special technique that he developed called ‘lacit’- lacquered painting on wood.
Abanindranath Tagore used to say of his pupil, ‘Kshitindranath mastered in depicting Vaishnavite themes, I have myself so far succeeded in Mughal subjects, Nandalal in classical episodes but Asit seems to have no limitations.’
Born in 1935, Sanat Chatterjee forwarded the tradition of Bengal School from Asit Kumar Haldar. In the span of fourteen years (From 1949-1964) under the guidance of Asit Haldar, Sanat learned various techniques and styles which spanned from wash painting, Oil Tempra, Sculpture, frescos, to silk painting.
Sanat Chatterjee constantly improvised his style and developed new mediums to work on. After he shifted to Himachal Pradesh (At the foothills of the Himalayas), his works were apparently influenced by Pahari painting and lately by Thangka painting.
He developed his own style of working with watercolor on silk, where he managed the detailing of the content along with creating a new solution to the transport such artwork. His various scrolls in the later years took the making of frescos by Asit Haldar to the next level, which can better be described as the confluence of Bengal School with detailing and bold color combination of Tanka paintings. He made a few of the longest scrolls in the world.
Two different branchs of Buddhist painting styles, one of Ajanta Caves and other of Buddhist Thangkas, separated centuries ago, seems to make a whole circle and confluences in the works of Sanat Chatterjee.
