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{{Short description|Indian artist and a pioneer of modern Indian art (1882-1966)}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox artist
| honorific_prefix = [[Padma Vibhushan|PV]]
| name = Nandalal Bose
| honorific_suffix =
| image = Nandalal Bose 1967 stamp of India.jpg
| image_size = 245px
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1882|12|3}}
| birth_place = [[Kharagpur, Munger|Haveli Kharagpur]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]]<br />(now in [[Bihar]], [[India]])<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X47DAgAAQBAJ&pg=PP3 | title=Nanadlal Bose | author=C. H. Prahlada Rao | author-link=C. H. Prahlada Rao | date=January 2014 | publisher= Rashtrotthana Sahitya }}</ref>
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1966|4|16|1882|12|3}}
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], [[West Bengal]], [[India]]
| nationality = [[India]]n
| field = [[Painting]]
| training =
| movement = [[Contextual Modernism]]
| works =
| awards = [[Padma Vibhushan]] (1954)
| patrons =
}}

[[File:Yama And Savitri, from a painting by Nandalal Bose.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Yama]] and [[Savitri and Satyavan|Savitri]], from a painting by Nandalal Bose.]]
'''Nandalal Bose''' (3 December 1882 – 16 April 1966) was one of the pioneers of modern [[Indian art]] and a key figure of [[Santiniketan: The Making of a Contextual Modernism|Contextual Modernism]].

A pupil of [[Abanindranath Tagore]], Bose was known for his "Indian style" of painting. He became the principal of [[Kala Bhavan]], [[Santiniketan]] in 1922. He was influenced by the [[Tagore family]] and the [[Ajanta Caves|murals of Ajanta]]; his classic works include paintings of scenes from Indian mythologies, women, and village life.

Today, many critics consider his paintings among India's most important modern paintings.<ref>{{cite news |title=San Diego museum showcases Nandalal Bose |url=http://in.rediff.com/news/2008/jun/25paint.htm |publisher=[[Rediff.com]] News |date=25 June 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The Art of Nandalal Bose' is first U.S. showcase for an Indian icon|author= Robert L. Pincus| url=http://www.paramuspost.com/article.php/20080314111558184 |publisher=Paramus Post |date=15 March 2008 }}</ref><ref name="GaneshThakkar2005">{{cite book|author1=Kamala Ganesh|author2=Usha Thakkar|title=Culture and the Making of Identity in Contemporary India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ePtg79MKkkwC&pg=PT49|date=13 July 2005|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-0-7619-3381-6|pages=49–}}</ref> In 1976, the [[Archaeological Survey of India]], Department of Culture, [[Govt. of India]] declared his works among the "nine artists" whose work, "not being antiquities", were to be henceforth considered "to be art treasures, having regard to their artistic and aesthetic value".<ref>Nine Masters {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907065925/http://chdmuseum.nic.in/art_gallery/nine_masters.html|date=7 September 2015|title=}} [[Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh]]. "Nine Masters: [[Rabindranath Tagore]], [[Amrita Sher-Gil]], [[Jamini Roy]], Nandalal Bose, [[Raja Ravi Varma]], [[Gaganendranath Tagore]], [[Abanindranath Tagore]], [[Sailoz Mookherjea]], and [[Nicholas Roerich]]."</ref>

He was given the work of illustrating the constitution of India.

==Early life==

Nandalal Bose was born on 3 December 1882 in a middle-class Bengali family at [[Haveli Kharagpur]], in [[Munger district]] of [[Bihar]] state. The family originally hailed from [[Jejur]], [[Hooghly District]] of [[West Bengal]].<ref name=Samsad>Samsad Bangali Charitabhidhan by Anjali Bose, 1976, p. 236</ref> His father, Purna Chandra Bose, was at that time working in the Darbhanga Estate.<ref name="RaoLitent2014">{{cite book|author1=C.H.Prahalada Rao|author2=Litent|title=Nandalal Bose|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X47DAgAAQBAJ&pg=PP3|date=1 January 2014|publisher=Litent|pages=3–|id=GGKEY:D9L3P5T7YE4}}</ref> His mother Khetramoni Devi was a housewife with a skill in improvising toys and dolls for young Nandalal. From his early days Nandalal began taking an interest in modelling images and later, decorating Puja pandals.

In 1898, at the age of fifteen, Nandalal moved to Calcutta for his high school studies in the Central Collegiate School. After clearing his examinations in 1902, he continued his college studies at the same institution. In June 1903 he married Sudhiradevi, the daughter of a family friend. Nanadalal wanted to study art, but he was not given permission by his family. Unable to qualify for promotion in his classes, Nandalal moved to other colleges, joining the Presidency College in 1905 to study commerce. After repeated failures, he persuaded his family to let him study art at Calcutta's School of Art.<ref name="Kowshik1985">{{cite book|author=Dinkar k Kowshik|title=Nandalal Bose, the doyen of Indian art|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CNKfAAAAMAAJ|access-date=18 April 2012|year=1985|publisher=National Book Trust, India}}</ref>

==Career==

As a young artist, Nandalal Bose was deeply influenced by the [[mural]]s of the [[Ajanta Caves]]. He had become part of an international circle of artists and writers seeking to revive classical Indian culture; a circle that already included [[Okakura Kakuzō]], [[William Rothenstein]], [[Yokoyama Taikan]], [[Christiana Herringham]], [[Laurence Binyon]], [[Abanindranath Tagore]], and the seminal London Modernist sculptors [[Eric Gill]] and [[Jacob Epstein]].<ref>[http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/modernism-modernity/summary/v018/18.1.arrowsmith.html Rupert Richard Arrowsmith, "The Transcultural Roots of Modernism: Imagist Poetry, Japanese Visual Culture, and the Western Museum System"], ''[[Modernism/modernity]]'' Volume 18, Number 1, January 2011, 27–42. {{ISSN|1071-6068}}.</ref><ref>[http://vimeo.com/arrowsmith/cosmopolitanism-and-modernism Video of a Lecture mentioning Bose in the context of Indian influences n global modernism], ''[[London University School of Advanced Study]]'', March 2012.</ref>

To mark the 1930 occasion of [[Mahatma Gandhi]]'s [[History of the British salt tax in India#Mahatma Gandhi and the salt tax|arrest for protesting the British tax on salt]], Bose created a black on white linocut print of Gandhi walking with a staff. It became the iconic image for the non-violence movement.

His genius and original style were recognised by famous artists and art critics like [[Gaganendranath Tagore]], [[Ananda Coomaraswamy]] and [[O. C. Ganguli]]. These lovers of art felt that objective criticism was necessary for the development of painting and founded the Indian Society of Oriental Art.

He became principal of the Kala Bhavana (College of Arts) at Tagore's International University [[Santiniketan]] in 1922.

He was also famously asked by [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] to sketch the emblems for the Government of India's awards, including the [[Bharat Ratna]] and the [[Padma Shri]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Nandalal Bose paintings on display in U.S. |url=http://www.hindu.com/2008/03/15/stories/2008031556021400.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080318213444/http://www.hindu.com/2008/03/15/stories/2008031556021400.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 March 2008 |work=[[The Hindu]] |date=15 March 2008 }}</ref> Along with his disciple [[Beohar Rammanohar Sinha|Rammanohar]], Nandalal Bose took up the historic task of beautifying/decorating the original manuscript of the [[Constitution of India]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/2672/ | title=The Constitution of India | access-date=9 December 2010 | date=7 May 2009 | publisher=World Digital Library}}</ref>

He died on 16 April 1966 in Calcutta.

Today, the [[National Gallery of Modern Art]] in Delhi holds 7000 of his works in its collection, including a 1930 black and white [[linocut]] of the [[Dandi March]] depicting Mahatma Gandhi, and a set of seven posters he later made at the request of Mahatma Gandhi for the 1938 [[Haripura]] Session of the [[Indian National Congress]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Bengal School of Art exhibition to open in US|url=http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2008-06-24/news/28438579_1_art-exhibition-darielle-mason-bengal-school |publisher=[[The Economic Times]] |date=24 June 2008 }}</ref>

==His place in Indian Art==

In his introduction for the [[Christie's]] catalogue, [[R. Siva Kumar]] wrote-<ref>http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/drawings-watercolors/nandalal-bose-bull-fighter-5716124-details.aspx</ref>
{{quote|Nandalal Bose (1882–1966) occupies a place in the history of Modern Indian art that combines those of [[Raphael]] and [[Durer]] in the history of the Renaissance. Like [[Raphael]] Nandalal was a great synthesizer, his originality lay in his ability to marshal discrete ideas drawn from [[Abanindranath Tagore]], [[Rabindranath Tagore]], [[E. B. Havell]], [[Ananda Coomaraswamy]], [[Okakura Kakuzo]] and [[Mahatma Gandhi]] into a unique and unified programme for the creation of a new art movement in India. And like [[Durer]] he combined a passion bordering on devotion with an irrepressible analytical mind that compelled him to prise open different art traditions and unravel their syntactic logic, and make them accessible to a new generation of Indian artists. But he did this so quietly and without self-assertive fanfare that the significance of his work is yet to be fully grasped even in India.}}

==Students==
Some of his students were [[Benode Behari Mukherjee]], [[Ramkinkar Baij]], [[Beohar Rammanohar Sinha]], [[K. G. Subramanyan]], [[A. Ramachandran]], [[Henry Dharmasena]], [[Pratima Devi (painter)|Pratima Thakur]], Ramananda Bandopadhyay, Sovon Som, [[Jahar Dasgupta]], Sabita Thakur, Malina Domeraloo, Shreya Gang Gang, Menaja Swagnesh, Yash Bombbut, [[Satyajit Ray]], [[Dinkar Kaushik]], [[Amritlal Vegad]], Gauranga Charan and Kondapalli Seshagiri Rao.

Also A.D.Jayathilake was one of his student from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and had the opportunity to study under Dr.Nandalal Bose in the final batch (1948–1952).<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.artbenwinton.com/about-art-benwinton/|title=About Art Benwinton|work=Art Benwinton|access-date=27 August 2017|language=en-US}}</ref> Dr. Nandalal Bose's uniquely drawn two paintings; "Arjuna Tree"<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.artbenwinton.com/product/art-1/|title=Art-1 Arjun Tree – Art Benwinton|work=Art Benwinton|access-date=27 August 2017|language=en-US}}</ref> and "Mango trees"<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.artbenwinton.com/product/art-2/|title=Art-2 Mango Trees – Art Benwinton|work=Art Benwinton|access-date=27 August 2017|language=en-US}}</ref> are currently with his Sri Lankan Student (A.D.Jaythilake).

==Honours and awards==

Nandalal Bose, who left a major imprint on Indian art, was the first recipient of a scholarship offered by the Indian Society of Oriental Art, founded in 1907.

In 1956, he became the second artist to be elected [[List of Lalit Kala Akademi fellows|Fellow of the Lalit Kala Akademi]], India's National Academy of Art. In 1954, Nandalal Bose was awarded the [[Padma Vibhushan]].

In 1957, the [[University of Calcutta]] conferred honorary D.Litt. on him.<ref>{{cite web|title=Annual Convocation|url=http://www.caluniv.ac.in/convocation-2012/hony_degrees.htm|publisher=[[University of Calcutta]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120528004638/http://caluniv.ac.in/convocation-2012/hony_degrees.htm|archive-date=28 May 2012}}</ref> [[Vishvabharati University]] honoured him by conferring on him the title of 'Deshikottama'.

The Academy of Fine Arts in Calcutta honoured Nandalal with the Silver Jubilee Medal. The Tagore Birth Centenary Medal was awarded to Nandalal Bose in 1965 by the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

''Acharya Nandalal'', an Indian documentary film on the artist was made by [[Harisadhan Dasgupta]] in 1984.<ref name="RajadhyakshaWillemen1999">{{cite book|last1=Rajadhyaksha|first1=Ashish|last2=Willemen|first2=Paul|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian cinema|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediaofi0000raja|url-access=registration|access-date=12 August 2012|year=1999|publisher=British Film Institute}}</ref>

== Publications ==

* '''Drishti o srishti'''[Vision and the Creation] By Nandalal Bose, Published by Visva-Bharati Granthana Vibhaga [ ''Edition Language - Bengali'' ]
* '''Shilpa Charcha'''[ শিল্প চর্চা ] by Nandalal Bose, Published April 1956 by Visva Bharati [ ''Edition Language - Bengali'' ]
* '''Pictures from the life of buddha''' By Nandalal Bose
* '''Rupavali''' by Nandalal Bose

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* ''Nandalal Bose and Indian painting'', by Ramyansu Sekhar Das. Tower Publishers, 1958.
* ''Nandalal Bose: a collection of essays : centenary volume''. [[Lalit Kala Akademi]], 1983.
* ''Nandalal Bose, the doyen of Indian art''. (National biography), by Dinkar Kowshik. [[National Book Trust]], India, 1985.
* ''Rhythms of India: The Art of Nandalal Bose,'' exhibition catalogue. Sonya Rhie Quintanilla. San Diego Museum of Art. 2008.

==External links==
{{commons category-inline|Nandalal Bose}}
* [https://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/08/20/arts/design/20080820_BOSE_SLIDESHOW_index.html New York Times slideshow]

{{Padma Vibhushan Awards}}

{{Fellows of the Lalit Kala Akademi}}
{{Authority control}}

{{West Bengal}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bose, Nandalal}}
[[Category:Indian male painters]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Lalit Kala Akademi]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in arts]]
[[Category:People from Howrah district]]
[[Category:1883 births]]
[[Category:1966 deaths]]
[[Category:Government College of Art & Craft alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Visva-Bharati University faculty]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:Bengali male artists]]
[[Category:Indian art educators]]
[[Category:Indian arts administrators]]
[[Category:People from Munger district]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian painters]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educators]]
[[Category:Educators from West Bengal]]
[[Category:People from Birbhum district]]
[[Category:People from Kolkata]]

Nandalal Bose - Revision history

>BrownHairedGirl: add {{West Bengal}}, which links to this page