EARLY BENGAL OILS/ Dutch Bengal School Oils

The initiation of modernity in Bengal was partly the presence European artists and mainly because of the establishment of the Calcutta School Art in 1854. This art school became pivotal in shaping the art language of the 19th century as well as at the turn of the 20th century. It was also partly because of the Bengal renaissance that witnessed a cultural interface and symbiosis of the East and the West. Yet more importantly was the city of Calcutta playing a catalytic role in shaping the intellectual and artistic life of the region. This was because of the emergence of new literature, music, theatre, social reforms as well as the women coming out of the zenanas and taking active part in social life appearing simultaneously enhanced the rejuvenation of the Bengali culture particularly in the 19th century.

Politically too, it was a period of significance. The tension between the colonizers and the colonial power had resulted in the fiery Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, when nationalism became the focus and encouraged people to speak up and speak out. The emergence of Rabindranath Tagore and the start of the Ashram education in Santiniketan brought in another wave of cultural change in the first few decades of the 20th century.

Bengal had always flourished at the confluence of various cultures. The last five years had witnessed Islamic power in which the Persian influence manifested in art, architecture, food and clothes. Then came the European experience and the coming together of these varied cultures together with local sensibility resulted in the creation and enriching of creative ideas.

The initial period of modernity in Bengal undeniably would be the early oil paintings that were executed inspired by the rich oils of European in its naturalistic style. Though these local artists lacked the grammar in the naturalistic representation, as they had no concept in the use of perspective for carving space on a two dimensional surface nor were aware of imparting volume to figures through modelling in light and dark. Nevertheless they solved these issues according to the native intelligence and created works that were, lucid, spontaneous and incidentally brought together three strands of tradition namely Mughal miniatures, European naturalistic art and the indigenous patachitras.

There is not much documentation of the artists of the Early Bengal School, but it has been claimed that these artists were the descendents of court painters of Murshidabad and Bihar. When they lost patronage, they came to Calcutta and began catering to the rich aristocratic Hindu families, as evidenced by the religious paintings in oils that survive.

The thematic content of these early oil paintings by these itinerant artists comprised of Siva’s Marriage, Siva’s Family, Ganesh Janani, Dura and Annapurna. These works were created in the first few decades of the 19th century. Between 1850 and the turn of the 20th century were painted, Siva’s Sanskara, Ram, Lakshmana and Sita, Chaitanya and Krishna and Radha. Within this was a sub group of Chaitanya and Radha Krishna.

Early Bengal paintings rendered in oils as that of Durga in the collection of Anirban and Regina were mostly woven around mythological themes, predominated by the representation of Durga and her various iconic battles that she fought which marked the triumph of good over evil. The composition of these paintings reveals sensitive creativity and originality in their approach. Divested of drama or any emotions, the composition has the strength of decorative affinity to the Durga pandals that were created on the occasion of the Durga Pooja. As integral to Siva’s family, the representation of Ganesha on the left and Kartikeya on the right can be observed. On either side of majestic and riyal Durga are the representation of Lakshmi and Saraswati.

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Photo of the painting ‘Shiva’s Family”.

Dimension: 17 by 23 inches

Medium: Oil on Canvas.

Year: Circa early 20th century

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