The contest over tradition and nationalism: different aesthetic formulations for ‘Indian’ painting
Payal Kapoor
The contest over tradition and nationalism: different aesthetic formulations for 'Indian' painting
The power and influence of Orientalist knowledge in Bengal led to an aesthetic discourse. New Orientalism in Bengal gave nationalism a distinct artistic value with reinterpretation or reconstruction of the past and a present day renaissance. They set out to recover a 'high art' for the nation.
Earlier in India art and craft was considered one. They all came under one art. They were jus given different names of charu kala and karu kala. But now we see with westerners coming in and we trying to modernise ourselves. Distinctions of fine art, high art started coming in.
Orientalist tried to cultivate a set of romantic aesthetic values that were clearly in opposition to western academic norms . Because of the Orientalist discourse we can se a clear line of divide where one school of Indian painting by Abanindranath Tagore was given more importance in mobilising the nationalist project of reconstruction of tradition and identity. Havell promoted Abanindranath Tagore as first true 'Indian style' painter. Displacing Ravi verma he was considered to be the sole representative of artistic revival in modern India.
Though in the first issue of 'the modern review', Ravi verma was considered to be the greatest painters of modern India. According to them his art served 1) historical purpose of reconstructing the glorious past of country.2) moral purpose of elevating the thoughts and emotion of the viewer 3) the purpose of nation building. There was use of warm colours in his paintings. He painted various kinds of womanly beauties and reconstructed all India costume for figures in his paintings.
But people started finding a ' foreign style' of painting in his work in comparison to the Indian style of painting that has emerged in the works of Abanindranath Tagore. During this period we had few people defining what kind of paintings would fall under the 'Indian style'. Like according to sister Nivedita art has a big role in shaping nationality. Raising questions to her like how can a man be a painter of nationality? can an abstract idea be given form with flesh and painted ? And for this she found paintings of bharat-mata by Abanindranath Tagore as an important symbol of swadeshi. According to Coomaraswamy also there was lack of Indian feeling in the mythological painting of raja Ravi verma as he found those figure neither heroic neither godly but casted in a common mould.
'Superior' and 'genuine' art was being projected around the work of Abanindranath Tagore. They found a vulgar sensuality in Ravi verma's painting. According to them, the mere choice of themes from Indian mythology and classics was not enough. The treatment of them should correspond to a level of idealism keeping in mind the epic and sacred qualities of subjects. As Indian art was considered to be an integral part of Indian philosophy and religion.
This new wave of aestheticism staked its on qualities of 'beauty', 'emotions', 'and imagination'.
The 'school of art style' and 'Bombay school of art' were considered to have cheap western style of teaching as more emphasis was on realism, whereas the ' Calcutta school of art' under havell and Abanindranath Tagore was considered to be the sole representative of artistic revival in India. Abanindranath Tagore's painting were considered to:
1) Great reserve of imagination and creativity which was a characteristic of a true artist according to the Indian style
2) True interpretation of Indian spirituality, the way he painted literary and mythological subjects he painted.
3) Links he established with old pictorial tradition, which was important for a nationalist artist.
"Self development" and "self expression" were keynotes of swadeshi ideology in Bengal. According to rabindranath tagore swadeshi would ultimately grow only out of an independent process of reorienting ourselves to our own culture and tradition.
During the swadeshi years, the creation of a national art depended on the visual medium of paintings as well as verbal medium of art critics. Writing by the critics became more important than the visual image in moulding the tastes about what constituted genuine 'Indian art'.
The 'concretion' of a work of art is a joint product of the artist, the observer and the critic. As the Harold Osborne states, ' in interpreting a picture, in reconstructing its 'effective' characteristics out of its schematic structure, the viewer actualises various elements within it which were only in ' a state of potentiality'. It came to be the special responsibility of the critic to guide and direct this process of 'concretion' to give viewer access to the 'real' potentialities of the work of art."
Language of the visual gets decoded through critic's language of description and interpretation. During this time with rejection of art school academic style alternative formulations were drawn from the romantic theories of art, which defined art through certain concepts of beauty, sublimity, emotion and idealism.
According to Benodebehari mukherjee the notes accompanying the reproductions of paintings dwelt mainly on the abstracted ideals and emotions, sidestepping questions of form and style.
The question of Indian-ness like the interpretation of Indian art tradition became mystical. Nationalism was being related to more aesthetic and moral values. For people like sister Nivedita the thought with which the artist must have painted became more imp. – moral idealism stressed.
In the 'new school of Indian painting', categories of 'realistic' and 'idealistic' emerged. Late Victorian critics clung to the rusknian contention that realism without idealism is not art. Coomaraswamy gave one of the most 'transcendental definition of art having no earthly desires. aurobindo ghosh described artist as a 'rishi' and art as 'inner revelations through sights'
High moral values and intense spirituality was one aspects of this idealistic art. Other aspect was importance attached to emotion and expressiveness.
With idealism projected as the fundamental quality that defined all art, whether Indian or western BHAVA or emotions and feelings became a central category for evaluating the pictorial image.
Expressiveness or the mood intensive aura of a painting became the hallmark of its 'Indian-ness.'
The distinction between 'aesthetic' and ' nationalist' appeal of a painting was significant, for in general the two were seen to be indistinguishable. For e.g. Abanindranath Tagore's painting, while it conveyed the idea of nationalism, also had to classify as a 'great art' , with all the required emotive, imaginative and spiritual qualities associated with its concept. Sometimes, the sheer romantic or thought provoking qualities of a painting invited nationalist interpretations. "In Abanindranath's painting of 'deepanvita' or 'feast of lamps' , the critic compared the dark nocturnal atmosphere of the picture with the metaphorical darkness in which British India was plunged , and interpreted the image of the woman carrying a lamp as the divine spirit of the motherland trying to dispel the darkness."
So the new aesthetics in Indian art was based in idealism, nationalism, emotional intensity and the value of tradition in art.
Rather than investigating that how can traditional forms and canon be used in modern Indian art, tradition was glorified as a value in itself. Continuity with tradition in paintings was important.
With the question what constituted genuine Indian art, reinterpretation of past became important. The linear progression from an oriental to a specifically Indian national consciousness culminated in and overarching' notion of 'idealistic art'. while a spiritual essence was held to be the universal quality of all ancient great art tradition , dhyana was identified as distinctive attribute of Indian art . for abanindranath also, preserving the identity as Indian artist meant maintain an organic link with the past traditions as one continued to move forward towards new horizons.
Interpretation of art as religion happened.
Abanindranath outlined the norms for conceptualisation of anatomy and creation of images of deities, which were suggestive of a higher, and a superior being. But with the following of standards, according to Abanindranath individualism was also important.
The claims to antiquity were linked up with another popular theme; a sense of Pan Asian Oriental art tradition. Abanindranath underlined close affinities between the six limbs of Indian painting and the six canons of Chinese paintings. constructing a hierarchy of values , he placed bhava (feeling) above the karigiri( workmanship) .
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{payal kapoor}