Untitled (Yashodha and Krishna)

"The pictorial realm of Jamini Roy was very often a reflection of the cultural and social milieu he experienced. In contrast to his contemporaries who regarded themselves as conscience keepers of the nation struggling for swaraj, the patua (as he liked to call himself) remained content in his studio, working with an atelier in the tradition of the patuas, drawing inspiration from folk art and it's vibrant joie de vivre, believing that he must bring the marginalized into the mainstream. In an era when the struggle for independence was peaking, Roy was no less patriotic, but for him nationalism meant reaching out to the community/common man." (Manifestations VI, 75 Artists, exhibition catalogue, New Delhi, 2011, p. 158)