Early life and background
Jamini Roy was born on April 11, 1887 into a moderately
prosperous family of land-owners in a village Beliatore in theBankura district,
West Bengal.
When he was sixteen he was sent to study at the Government
College of Art, Kolkata. Abanindranath Tagore, the founder of Bengal school was
vice principal at the institution. He was taught to paint in the prevailing
academic tradition drawing Classical nudes and painting in oils and in 1908 he
received his Diploma in Fine Art.
However, he soon realized that he needed to draw
inspiration, not from Western traditions, but from his own culture, and so he
looked to the living folk and tribal art for inspiration. He was most
influenced by the Kalighat Pat (Kalighat painting), which was a style of art
with bold sweeping brush-strokes. He moved away from his earlier impressionist
landscapes and portraits and between 1921 and 1924 began his first period of
experimentation with the Santhal dance as his starting point.
Style
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| Indian Pre-Modern ArtistJamini Roy's -Mother and Child |
His new style was a reaction against the Bengal School and
Western tradition. His underlying quest was threefold: to capture the essence
of simplicity embodied in the life of the folk people; to make art accessible
to a wider section of people; and to give Indian art its own identity. Jamini
Roy's paintings were put on exhibition for the first time in the British India
Street of Calcutta (Kolkata) in 1938. During the 1940s, his popularity touched
new highs, with the Bengali middle class and the European community becoming
his main clientele. In 1946, his work was exhibited in London and in 1953, in
the New York City. He was awarded the Padma Bhusan in 1954. His work has been
exhibited extensively in international exhibitions and can be found in many
private and public collections such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
He spent most of his life living and working in Calcutta. Initially he
experimented with Kalighat paintings but found that it has ceased to be
strictly a "patua" and went to learn from village patuas.
Consequently his techniques as well as subject matter were influenced by
traditional art of Bengal. He preferred himself to be called a patua. Jamini
Roy died in 1972. He was survived by four sons and a daughter. Currently his
successors (daughters-in-law and grand children and their children) stay at the
home he had built in Ballygunge Place, Kolkata. His works can be found in
various galleries across the globe as well as in his home. It is evident that
his followers and successors copied many of his works with minor variations
intentional or unintentional. So, the basic problem lies with the identification
of the originality of his works.
Famous Works
• Cat Sharing a Prawn
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| Indian Pre-Modern ArtistJamini Roy's -Cat sharing a prawn |
• Cat
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| Indian Pre-Modern ArtistJamini Roy's- Cats Plus |
• Crucifixion
with Attendant Angels
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| Indian Pre-Modern ArtistJamini Roy's- Crucifixion with Attendant Angels |
• Krishna
and Balarama
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| Indian Pre-Modern ArtistJamini Roy's - Krishna Balarama |
• Radha Krishna
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| Indian Pre-Modern ArtistJamini Roy's - Radha Krishna |
• Krishna
with Gopis in Boat
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| Indian Pre-Modern ArtistJamini Roy's - Krishna and Balaram with Gopi's in Boat |
• Makara and Horseman
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| Indian Pre-Modern ArtistJamini Roy's - Makara and Horseman |
• Queen on
Tiger
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| Indian Pre-Modern ArtistJamini Roy's -Queen on Tiger |
 |
| Indian Pre-Modern ArtistJamini Roy's -Queen on Horse |
• Ravana,
Sita and Jatayu
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| Indian Pre-Modern ArtistJamini Roy's -Ravana, Sita and Jatayu |
• Santal
Boy with Drum
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| Indian Pre-Modern ArtistJamini Roy's -Santal Boy with Drum |
• Seated
Woman in Sari
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| Indian Pre-Modern ArtistJamini Roy's -Seated Woman in Sari |
• St. Ann
and the Blessed Virgin
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| Indian Pre-Modern ArtistJamini Roy's -St. Ann and the Blessed Virgin |
• Vaishnavas
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| Indian Pre-Modern ArtistJamini Roy's - Vaishnavas |
• Mother And Child
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| Indian Pre-Modern ArtistJamini Roy's -Mother & Child |
• Warrior
King
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| Indian Pre-Modern ArtistJamini Roy's -Warrior King |
Awards and honors
In 1934, he received a Viceroy's gold medal in an all India
exhibition for one of his work. In 1955 he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the
Government of India,this was the third highest award a civilian can be given.
Also in 1955, he was made the first Fellow of the Lalit Kala Akademi, the
highest honour in the fine arts conferred by the Lalit Kala Akademi, India's
National Academy of Art, Government of India.
In 1976, the Archaeological Survey of India, Ministry of
Culture, Govt. of India declared his works among the "Nine Masters"
whose work, to be henceforth considered "to be art treasures, having
regard to their artistic and aesthetic value".
Critical views
In 1929 while inaugurating Roy's exhibition sponsored by
Mukul Dey at Calcutta, the then Statesman Editor Sir Alfred Watson said:
"....Those who study the various pictures will be able to trace the
development of the mind of an artist constantly seeking his own mode of
expression. His earlier work done under purely Western influence and consisting
largely of small copies of larger works must be regarded as the exercises of
one learning to use the tools of his craft competently and never quite at ease
with his models. From this phase we see him gradually breaking away to a style
of his own.
You must judge for yourselves how far Mr. Roy has been able
to achieve the ends at which he is obviously aiming. His work will repay study.
I see in it as I see in much of the painting in India today a real Endeavor to
recover a national art that shall be free from the sophisticated tradition of
other countries, which have had a continuous art history. The work of those who
are endeavoring to revive Indian art is commonly not appreciated in its true
significance. It is sometimes assumed that revival means no more than a return
to the methods and traditions of the past. That would be to create a school of
copyists without visions and ideals of their own.
....Art in any form cannot progress without encouragement.
The artist must live and he must live by the sale of his work. In India as
elsewhere the days when the churches and the princes were the patrons of art
have passed. Encouragement today must come from a wider circle. I would say to
those who have money to spare buy Indian art with courage. You may obtain some
things of little worth; you may, on the other hand, acquire cheaply something
that is destined to have great value. What does it matter whether you make
mistakes or not. By encouraging those who are striving to give in line and
color a fresh expression to Indian thought you are helping forward a movement
that we all hope is destined to add a fresh lustre to the country."
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