The recently held 74th Annual All India Fine Arts Exhibition 2009 of the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, where more than two hundred works were at display, instigated a confusion gradually perpetuating a controversy over its one of the award winning categories and the work selected to be awarded under that denomination. The Academy of Fine Arts since the inception of its annual shows has been categorizing the painting section into two broader styles, namely Indian and Western and hence the awards too were determined according to this division. This year the same structure was followed by the panel of judges and awards were determined but the whole confusion erupted when one particular award was given to a painting titled “Catch me if you can…” in synthetic tempera on rice paper by Swapan Kumar Mallick. The debate was circumscribed with the issue that how that particular painting could be categorized under Indian style and further breeding into broader dialectics about the basis of conceptualizing art as Indian style and its evolution as a wider discourse.
Before plunging into the detail of the argument over this specific work of art, let’s do a quick wrap-up of the historical background of the advent of Indian style in art. The establishments of art schools in colonial India during the mid-nineteenth century had a precise outlook of imparting a particular type of art education. The schools were Indian representation of the British Technical Schools and the purpose was also clear. The Indian middle-class group who took interest in art education was in fact trained in copy work. It was the so-called development of skill the survey agencies looked for and in a much defined manner it was a type of agenda of the colonial power that played a prior role in establishing the European art in the supreme position. In this way with the rise of the colonial rule, India’s past tend to wipe out.
The imposition of British supremacy over the Indians in every sphere of life attained the shape of deculturisation during the nineteenth century. It is very true that Indian art had a dynamic character with a flexibility of approach that allowed the process of assimilation and absorption with ease. But with the advent of the colonial rule, the hegemony being exercised took an advantage over this flexible approach and acquired a dominion status. The imposition of the colonial policy resulted in the Indians getting caught between two value systems, neither of which they could either accept or reject totally. That is the reason why, the nineteenth century India saw an admixture of two value systems in all walks of life and culture as referred by Sovon Som in “Abanindranath Tagore and Gaganendranath Tagore: A Reappraisal” Lalit Kala Contemporary – 38, Lalit Kala Akademi publication.
Indian art in spite of being influenced by external sources had its own history from ancient times to late medieval period. The influences were assimilated and remoulded within the Indian canon but the modern art history of India built up a counter system. Indian modernity in art came to be looked upon with the focus on local and national idioms being used in art practices. As a matter of consequence the modern art history had to be placed against the west whether the emphasis lay on the nodes of derivation or difference.
The feel for identity crisis was further provoked by the Nationalist thoughts and in a way modern was nationalized. With the fine works on oil totally European in style and technique, the thematic contents with indigenous narrative allowed Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) emerge as the initiator in search of National identity through visual arts. Coming from an aristocratic background, Ravi Varma subscribed to the ethos of his class and social status. Glorification of the mythical and traditional values as national ideals took the forefront and the moral approach took the lead above everything else even leaving behind the stylistic experimentation. The quest for national identity against the wave of deculturisation remained as an undercurrent in his works. Ravi Varma has been considered as the Indian Raphael by the enlightened class of the nineteenth century but did he emerge as the iconic figure to represent Indian nationalism both in the thematic exposition and stylistic approach during that historical conjecture? Occasionally acknowledged as the best representative of the Indian induction of western academic norms, he remains sidelined in the story of modern Indian art. This has been stated by Tapati Guha Thakurta in “Visualizing the Nation the Iconography of a ‘National Art’ in Modern India”, Journal of Arts & Ideas
The above-mentioned comment on Raja Ravi Varma can be regarded as a subject to debate further because his significance as a painter cannot be put down in the Indian context. Historically he is the prime figure who broke away from the school-bound album painting tradition and gave birth to individualization in his paintings. He prefaced the introduction of Indian themes as ‘national ideals’ but the birth of ‘national style’ was yet to be found out. The emergence of Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951) and his art movement mark a paradigmatic shift in building up the icon for national identity both thematically and in the stylistic approach. And with the inception of the Bengal School and its orientation of exercising visual arts specifically painting in wash, gouache and tempera came to be identified as Indian style that was picked up by different art institutes to impart education in art. The Government College of Art & Craft, Kolkata still has a specific course at the undergraduate level giving Bachelor’s degree in painting with Indian style.
Interestingly, the crux of this whole episode of developing Indian or to be rather more correct nationalist identity in art undoubtedly holds historical significance but with the passage of time showed no prospect of evolution. Indian style in art remained confined to a particular type of work conceptualized in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Down the ages whatever has been done following those tenets are among the works identified as Indian style which is quite fuzzy as the cause behind such development is no more the essential pulse behind such creation. Art Historian Prof Sovon Som disagrees to such binaries like Indian and western styles and their basis to impart art education. He says that Indian and western or European art do exist but specifying one historical movement as Indian style and remaining confined to that domain and further giving it the recognition of a nation’s identity must be revised and necessarily seeks evolution.
The whole debate regarding the painting “Catch me if you can…” got generated from the basic references that were missing as to be regarded as Indian style. The painting portrays the contemporary insight of a generation attired in all modern gadgets and sheer indifference to the whole world. The undercurrent sexuality of the young adolescent girl and her cerebral space with the backdrop of globalization and the indispensable hybridization doesn’t allow her to retain her local identity but the irresistible desire she holds within can be contextualized. And of course when an artist from the eastern fringe of the country is exercising such content, it has relevance with his times and that can be termed region or to a broader extent nation specified. The style and medium handled as the painter refers is “Synthetic tempera” on rice paper which is predominantly acrylic used with the layering process as tempera and turned into a water-proof texture. So this is also indigenous and to a great extent artist’s own discovery of exercising a technique.
Now the issue is if this painting is being referred as Indian style by an institution like the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata; can it be considered that this painting is the landmark to signify the discourse of the evolution of Indian style in the twenty-first century? Or is it the other way round hammering on the feature that no such binary with reference to ‘style’ does exist in accordance to the context art has evolved over a century since the inception of the Bengal School in the subcontinent of India? The forum is open to you… |
