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| Nandalal Bose |
The Essayist:
Nandalal Bose (1882-1966) was an Indian painter of the
Bengal school of art. Bose, a pupil of Abanindranath Tagore, was known for his
“Indian style” of painting.
He was born on 3rd December, 1822 in a
middle-class Bengali family of Kharagpur which was then a small town in the
Monghyr district of Bihar. His father, Purnachandra Bose, worked in the
Darbhanga Estate. His mother, Kshetramonidevi was a housewife. She had a skill
to improve toys and dolls for young Nandalal. He took an interest in modelling
images from his early days. He also took interest in decorating puja pandals
later.
Nandalal came to Calcutta in 1897 to get his high school
education from the Central Collegiate School. He also continued his college
studies at the same institution.
In June 1903, he married Sudhiradevi who was the daughter of
a family friend. He demanded to study art but his family did not give him
permission. Losing interest in education he failed to qualify for promotion in
his classes. He shifted to other colleges. He joined the Presidency College in
1905 to study commerce. But all went in vein. Finally his family let him study
art at Calcutta’s School of Art.
He was profoundly influenced by the murals of the Ajanta
Caves. He was also influenced by the Tagore family. He loved to paint scenes
from Indian mythologies, women and village life. He created a black on white
linocut print of Gandhi walking with a staff to mark the 1930 incident of
Mahatma Gandhi’s arrest for protesting the British tax on salt. It was recognised
as the symbolic image for the non-violence movement. His genius and original
style gained fame.
He became the principal of Kala Bhavana, Shantiniketan in
1922. He sketched the emblems for the Govt. of India’s awards like the Bharat
Ratna, the Padma Shri, etc. Along with his students, he performed the patriotic
task of beautifying and decorating the original manuscript of the Constitution
of India.
In 1954, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan. He became the
second artist to be elected Fellow of the Lalit Kala Academy, India’s National
Academy of Art in 1956. Viswabharati University gave him honour by conferring
on him the title of Desikottam. The
Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata honoured him with the Silver Jubilee Medal. He
was awarded the Tagore Birth Centenary Medal by the Asiatic Society of Bengal
in 1965.
Some of his disciples were Benode Behari Mukherjee,
Ramkinkar Bej, Pratima Thakur, Sovon Som, Johar Dasgupta and Sabita Thakur.
He passed away on 16th April, 1966 in Calcutta.
The National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi preserves 7000 of his works in its
collection.
The source:
The present essay, The
Place of Art in Education is an extract from his original composition, Vision and Creation.
The Summary:
Language is a device to acquire knowledge through various
branches of study. Literature, art, music and dance provide man with inner
delight which he experiences with his mind and senses. But education in arts
raises man’s knowledge and inner delight. This education in art, music and
dance cannot be gained through reading and writing.
To ensure total development of the pupils, art training
should be given more importance. But our universities do not have adequate
provision for art training. It is wrongly believed that art is the exclusive
monopoly of a few professionals. Even the educated class do not feel shame at
not understanding art. They cannot apply their aesthetic sensibilities in their
daily life. Our culture and aesthetics have grown worse only for them. So, they
require education in art to set a standard for the common people.
People who have no sense of beauty evidently lead their
disdainful standard of living in houses, courtyards, surroundings, walls,
streets and railway coaches. They create a direct threat to mind and health of
others. Nobody can taste aesthetic pleasure for them.
Some of us think that only the rich and the pleasure-loving
can value a work of art. But they forget that its real value lies in sense of
beauty and order, not in money. A poor santhal may have a greater sense of
beauty and order in maintaining a household than a rich man’s son. The educated
and the rich men often try to focus that they are the real lover of art. But
their hostel rooms remain in disorder and their dress lacks taste and
proportion, pointing their poverty in aesthetic sensibilities.
There are two sides of art – fine art and functional art.
Fine art leads our mind from sorrows and conflicts of our daily lives to a
world of aesthetic pleasure. On the other hand, functional art brings beauty to
the objects of our daily use and provides us with means of livelihood. The
decay of functional art results in our country’s economic decline.
The lack of art education keeps us away from our past
heritage. We cannot find out the glory of our past painting, sculpture and
architecture with our untrained eyes. We have to depend on foreign experts to
ascertain their real value.
The means of developing art education are the observation
and understanding of nature and good works of art with rapt attention under the
guidance of experts. Each school and university should make art studies
compulsory for students and provide time, environment and training for them. It
will develop their power of observation and give them better insight into
literature, philosophy and science.
The following are the ways to solve the problem of art
education:
First, classrooms, libraries, studies and living rooms of
students should display specimens of art.
Secondly, well-qualified people should write books on art
for students.
Thirdly, film shows on art should be arranged.
Fourthly, students should be sent to museums and picture
galleries with qualified teachers. A direct encounter with an object of art
will arouse their aesthetic vision and sensibilities.
Fifthly, seasonal festivals like fruits display or flowers
display should be held to get the students acquainted with nature. Those will
provide them with materials for artistic creation.
Sixthly, students should be introduced to Nature’s own
festival of the seasons. Once the students come close to nature, and learn to
love it, their aesthetic sensibilities will never decrease.
Lastly, art-festival should be organised for the students.
It will encourage them to develop a work of art with their own effort.
The Features:
The essay is written by Nandalal Bose with an aim to improve
the level of art-education in our country. The essayist is quite state forward
and logical in his presentation of ideas. He feels the need to develop
art-education to restore beauty, order and taste in our society.
The essay proves his power of analysis with suitable
examples. It bears the touch of his genius. He makes the essay interesting by
interpreting his ideas clearly without any exaggeration. He shows his sincerity
and responsibility to the society by raising his voice on the development of
art-education. When the whole country is immersed in materialism and
selfishness, he plays the role of a pathfinder by offering a possible remedy to
the present crises of art-education in India.
