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Lot Essay
Jamini Roy was born in 1887 to a zamindar family in Beliatore, a village in the Bankura district of West Bengal, a region rich with folk art traditions. At the age of sixteen, he travelled to Calcutta, where he studied European painting at the Government School of Art and Craft. Unsurprisingly, the landscapes and portraits from the earliest period of his career had a distinctly Impressionistic feel. However, his artistic vocabulary soon evolved, and in the 1920s, the artist turned away from his formal Western training and began to look back towards the art of his village, Kalighat patas and other Bengali folk paintings for inspiration. Discovering that he was far more drawn to the bright color palette and bold lines of bazaar pata paintings, Roy developed a unique visual style that reinterpreted local traditions through a modernist lens combining Indian and western artistic traditions.
However, “Roy’s artistic evolution was not strictly linear – neither in stylistic inspiration nor in thematic choices. Onto the Kalighat Santal women and alipana [sic] abstractions, Roy appended themes from Hindu myth, particularly of Krishna and the Ramayana. While Calcutta celebrated Shivite deities […] rural Bengal was heavily Vaishnavite represented by a plethora of Krishna and Rama images, the human avatars of Vishnu” (M. Sirhandi, Jamini Roy, Bengali Artist of Modern India, Gainsville, 1997, p. 7). Along with his Vaishnava scenes depicting Krishna and Balaram among other subjects, Roy also drew inspiration from the figure of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Believed to be an avatar of Krishna and his consort Radha, Chaitanya’s association with West Bengal can be traced back to the 1400s, and he is considered an integral part of Vaishnav religiosity and beliefs there. Possibly his most important teaching was the importance of kirtan and harinam, or prayer and chanting in worship together. Chaitanya is commonly depicted dancing among his associates with his arms raised in reverence for Krishna.
Works like the present lot, which are based on Vaishnava beliefs, are “a syncretic amalgam of various artistic traditions. The figures derive from the Bengal patas; the strong outline, occasionally doubled, goes back to Roy’s Kalighat period […] and carefully enclosed areas of color as well as dots and dashes of detail closely resemble patas from the adjoining state of Orissa” (M. Sirhandi, Ibid., 1997, p. 7). Always seeking to learn more about art, particularly about the indigenous art forms of India other than those he grew up with, Roy’s studio in Calcutta soon became a bustling salon where scholars and collectors, both local and international, came to discuss art. This lead both to an unusually diverse, global collector base for the artist, and opportunities to engage and collaborate with various talented artisans across the country. One such collaboration was with a group of weavers and embroiderers in Kashmir, who created a set of textiles based on Roy’s paintings under the artist’s close supervision.
The present lot may be read as an example of Roy’s depictions Vaishnava beliefs, captured in this rare woven form. The four figures with the Vaishnava tilak adorning their foreheads and colorful outfits stand in contrast from the pale pink background, and upon first glance the scene seems very symmetrical. However, it is the few asymmetric details that shed light on the identities of the figures. The two central figures are presumably Chaitanya, the golden avatar of Radha and Krishna combined, who can be distinguished by the unique color of his skin in this case, and his principle associate Nityananda standing beside him. Both figures are depicted with their hands raised as if captured in a moment of ecstatic dance, and are flanked by two drummers playing their mridangas, a necessary part of the ideal energetic kirtan or harinam.
However, “Roy’s artistic evolution was not strictly linear – neither in stylistic inspiration nor in thematic choices. Onto the Kalighat Santal women and alipana [sic] abstractions, Roy appended themes from Hindu myth, particularly of Krishna and the Ramayana. While Calcutta celebrated Shivite deities […] rural Bengal was heavily Vaishnavite represented by a plethora of Krishna and Rama images, the human avatars of Vishnu” (M. Sirhandi, Jamini Roy, Bengali Artist of Modern India, Gainsville, 1997, p. 7). Along with his Vaishnava scenes depicting Krishna and Balaram among other subjects, Roy also drew inspiration from the figure of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Believed to be an avatar of Krishna and his consort Radha, Chaitanya’s association with West Bengal can be traced back to the 1400s, and he is considered an integral part of Vaishnav religiosity and beliefs there. Possibly his most important teaching was the importance of kirtan and harinam, or prayer and chanting in worship together. Chaitanya is commonly depicted dancing among his associates with his arms raised in reverence for Krishna.
Works like the present lot, which are based on Vaishnava beliefs, are “a syncretic amalgam of various artistic traditions. The figures derive from the Bengal patas; the strong outline, occasionally doubled, goes back to Roy’s Kalighat period […] and carefully enclosed areas of color as well as dots and dashes of detail closely resemble patas from the adjoining state of Orissa” (M. Sirhandi, Ibid., 1997, p. 7). Always seeking to learn more about art, particularly about the indigenous art forms of India other than those he grew up with, Roy’s studio in Calcutta soon became a bustling salon where scholars and collectors, both local and international, came to discuss art. This lead both to an unusually diverse, global collector base for the artist, and opportunities to engage and collaborate with various talented artisans across the country. One such collaboration was with a group of weavers and embroiderers in Kashmir, who created a set of textiles based on Roy’s paintings under the artist’s close supervision.
The present lot may be read as an example of Roy’s depictions Vaishnava beliefs, captured in this rare woven form. The four figures with the Vaishnava tilak adorning their foreheads and colorful outfits stand in contrast from the pale pink background, and upon first glance the scene seems very symmetrical. However, it is the few asymmetric details that shed light on the identities of the figures. The two central figures are presumably Chaitanya, the golden avatar of Radha and Krishna combined, who can be distinguished by the unique color of his skin in this case, and his principle associate Nityananda standing beside him. Both figures are depicted with their hands raised as if captured in a moment of ecstatic dance, and are flanked by two drummers playing their mridangas, a necessary part of the ideal energetic kirtan or harinam.