Shantiniketan

Rabindranath Tagore founded a small school at Santiniketan in 1901 and Kala Bhavan, an art school, in 1919 which later became a part of the Visvabharati University founded in 1921. Located in an idyllic village some distance from the city of Calcutta, Kala Bhavan presented an alternative methodology of art training, in which studio based practice was rejected in favour of learning through observation and living as a part of nature. The natural surroundings with the vistas of bare red earth dotted with trees, the colours of the changing seasons, the animals and birds provided inspiration to students who worked under the tutelage of artists like Nandlal Bose, who were themselves significant figures in the development of modern Indian art.

Utilising varied artistic strategies both in theme and medium, the work of artists like Nandalal Bose, BB Mukherjee and Ram Kinker Baij chart a pictorial history of India in the most significant decades of its fight for independence.