Abanindra Nath Tagore
Recently, the 150th birth anniversary of Abanindra Nath Tagore was celebrated on 7th August. Abanindra nath Tagore was born on 7 August 1871 and died on 5 December 1951. He was an eminent painter and litterateur of India.
Abanindra Nath Tagore, nephew of Rabindranath Tagore, was one of the most prominent artists of the Bengal School of Art in India. Abanindra Nath Tagore was the first major proponent of indigenous values in Indian art.
Contribution of ‘Avanindra Nath Tagore’ to Indian Art and Culture:
- He first formed the ‘Indian Society of Oriental Art’ and then established the ‘Bengal School of Art’.
- He believed that Indian art and its art forms give importance to spirituality, in contrast to the emphasis on materialism in Western art. So he rejected the art forms prevalent in the West.
- His idea of modernizing Mughal and Rajput painting eventually gave rise to modern Indian painting which developed in Bengal School of Art.
- Most of his work is inspired by Hindu philosophy.
- In his later works, Avanindra Nath began to integrate Chinese and Japanese calligraphic motif traditions into his style. His aim behind this was to amalgamate the entire Asian modern art tradition and common elements of the artistic and spiritual culture of the East.
Famous paintings:
Bharat Mata, Shah Jahan (1900), Meri Maa (1912–13), Parilok Chitran (1913), Yatra ka ant (1913).
Contribution to Literature:
- Along with a painter, he was also a noted writer of Bengali children’s literature. Most of his literary works focused on children.
- He was famous as ‘Aban Thakur’ and his books like Rajkahani, Budoangla, Nalak, Khirerputul hold an important place in Bengali children’s literature.
- The Arabian Nights series was one of his notable works.
Source – The Hindu
