The Bengal School of Art was an influential style of art that flourished in India during the British Raj in the early 20th century. It was associated with Indian nationalism, but was also promoted and supported by many British arts administrators. Image File history File links Abanindranath. ... Image File history File links Abanindranath. ... The British Empire at its zenith in 1919. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix Nationalism is an ideology [1] that holds that a nation is the fundamental unit for human social life, and takes precedence over any other social and political principles. ...

The Bengal school arose as an avant garde and nationalist movement reacting against the academic art styles previously promoted in India, both by Indian artists such as Ravi Varma and in British art schools. Following the widespread influence of Indian spiritual ideas in the West, the British art teacher Ernest Binfield Havel attempted to reform the teaching methods at the Calcutta School of Art by encouraging students to imitate Mughal miniatures. This caused immense controversy, leading to a strike by students and complaints from the local press, including from nationalists who considered it to be a retrogressive move. Havel was supported by the artist Abanindranath Tagore, a nephew of the poet Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore painted a number of works influenced by Mughal art, a style that he and Havel believed to be expressive of India's distinct spirutual qualities, as opposed to the "materialism" of the West. Tagore's best-known painting, Bharat Mata (Mother India), depicted a young woman, portrayed with four arms in the manner of Hindu deities, holding objects symbolic of India's national aspirations. Tagore later attempted to develop links with Japanese artists as part of an aspiration to construct a pan-Asianist model of art. The Loves of Zero 35 mm film by Robert Florey 1927 Avant-garde in French means front guard, advance guard, or vanguard. ... Birth of Venus, Alexandre Cabanel, 1863 Academic art is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies or universities. ... Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) was an Indian painter who achieved recognition for his depiction of scenes from the epics of the Mahabharata and Ramayana. ... See Occident (movement) for the French political movement. ... Ernest Binfield Havel, who published under the name, E.B. Havell, was a British arts administrator and author of numerous books about Indian art and architecture. ... The Mughal Empire (alternative spelling Mogul, which is the origin of the word Mogul) of India was founded by Babur in 1526, when he defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the last of the Delhi Sultans at the First Battle of Panipat. ... Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951), was the principal artist of the Bengal school and the first major exponent of swadeshi values in Indian art. ... Rabindranath Tagore in Kolkata, c. ... Pan-Asianism is an ideology that Asian countries and peoples share similar values and similar histories and should be united politically or culturally. ...

The Bengal school's influence in India declined with the spread of modernist ideas in the 1920s. This article focuses on the cultural movement labeled modernism or the modern movement. See also: Modernism (Roman Catholicism) or Modernist Christianity; Modernismo for specific art movement(s) in Spain and Catalonia. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 3 - Babe Ruth is traded by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees for $125,000, the largest sum ever paid for a player at that time. ...

However Bengal continues to produce some of the best artists of modern India. Among them the best known artists of present day Bengal are Ganesh Pyne, Bikash Bhattacharya, and Paresh Maiti.

References

See also

• Indian painting
• Indian Fine art
• Progressive Artists' Group
• Tanjore painting
• Rajput painting
• Madhubani painting
• New Indian Art

Radha. ... A Tanjore Painting depicting Goddess Saraswati Tanjore painting is an important form of classical South Indian painting native to the town of Tanjore in Tamil Nadu. ... an 18th century Rajput painting. ... Madhubani painting is a style of Indian painting, practiced in the Mithila region of Bihar state, India. ...

External links

• Anthology of Indian Art