Jamini Roy: Bengali Artist of Modern India (1887-1972)

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Budd Harris Bishop, director Harn Museum of Art
Acknowledgments: Larry David Perkins, Curator of Collections Harn Museum of Art
Jamini Roy: Biography and Art: Marcella Sirhandi, Associate Professor Oklahoma State University
Abstract:
Born and raised in a Bengali village, Jamini Roy was fascinated by the craftsmen and folk artists there. He watched the carpenters, the weavers, the doll makers, the ceramists and particularly the patua painters as they worked. Roy joined the Calcutta College of Art in 1903 and came under the sway of Abanindranath Tagore's Bengal School style of painting. He copied European masterpieces and for a time, made a living painting realistic oil on canvas portraits of European expats. Caught up by swadeshi sentiment in Calcutta, Roy turned to Kalighat painting and alpana design to shed his western orientation. On a visit to his home village Roy reconnected with the patua painters, other folk artists and craftsmen. The catalog reproduces 27 images, half in color and some not previously published. Roy's catalog biography begins with his childhood village life, addresses his art school experience, his search for a pure Indian form of expression and the transformation of his art to its idiosyncratic completion. Both style and iconography are explained in depth.

Jamini Roy, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana, c. 1945

Jamini Roy in his Studio with a guest c. 1950