Rabindranath Tagore's contribution to art in Indian scenario was no less profound than his literature. At a time when expressionism began to capture the spirit of western art, Rabindranath Tagore was more than seven thousand kilometers away in India, without any Facebook, WhatsApp or Google search engine.
He had no way to have a thorough idea of what the tormented Edward Munch was painting or what Emil Nolde would paint.
But the paintings he did were extreme order of expressionism, almost to the extent of fearless arrogance.
Hence, it feels anomalous when people paint Rabindranath Tagore in the realistic or photorealistic manner. It's contrary to the spirit of the legend being portrayed.
In fact, Rabindranath Tagore himself said that his journey into the world of art was like that of a blind man walking over the rope. If the blind man knows that he is doing a tight rope walk , he would fall.
He drew this analogy because he never learned art in a formal way unlike his brothers who formed the Bengal School. And his venture into art was as fearless and unbound as the blind man on rope.
In the occasion of his birthday, countless portraits of the poet and artist are doing their rounds in social media. But hardly few actually suit the spirit of the man. We have picked them up for this report. The artists are not aware that we chose them. See for yourself...
This painting by artist Tamojit Bhattacharya is a step ahead in time beyond expressionism of Rabindranath Tagore himself. This portrait holds the inherent spirit of Cubism too; the aspects in focus are the ones foreshadowing the rest in our mind when we think of the subject. Also, a complete disregard for convention and freedom from protocol of art resound in Tamojit's painting. In all respect, right from the style as well as the spirit captured, this seems to be one of the best portraits of Rabindranath Tagore done in long time.
In the following painting by Artist Banani Kundu, we see a similar defiance to follow convention.
Unlike another photorealistic portrayal or muscle flexing of pencil sketch, Banani depicted him in her own way. It is a true blend of Indian tradition of beauty as well as an expressionist gest for subjective projection of one's feeling about what is being painted.
In this way, interestingly, Banani's Rabindranath holds the spirit of Plato and Aristotle too. The passion is palpable yet as if carved on stone. The eternal validity of Tagore piercing through the infinite matrix of age and space is proclaimed loud and clear through the painting.
We, from Romartika, again say hats off to both artists for doing justice to the timeless legend by following his footsteps of breaking the convention in art.
Following are the links to their posts in social media -
Tamojit Bhattacharya's painting - https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=418700876928951&set=a.159217449543963
Banani Kundu's painting - https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=534577684953160&set=a.120983629645903
Comments