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Abanindranath Tagore

Personal Profile

Abanindranath Tagore
  • Date of Birth:
    August 7, 1871
  • Zodiac Sign:
    Leo
  • Place of Birth:
    Calcutta, West Bengal
  • Place of Death:
    Calcutta, West Bengal
  • Date of Death:
    December 5, 1951
  • Sex:
    Male
  • Nationality:
    Indian
  • Education:
    Studied at Govt. School of Art and Craft, Calcutta
    Private Tutors: Olinto Gilhardi & Charles Palmer
    Pursuing his increasing interest in Japanese painting, he learnt the Art of Japanese brushwork under Yokoyama Taikan

Family

Abanindranath Tagore
  • Brother:
    Gaganendranath Tagore
  • Spouse:
    Srimati Suhasini Devi

Career

Abanindranath Tagore

Trivia

Abanindranath Tagore
  • With the success of Tagore's ideas, he came into contact with other Asian artists whose work was comparable to his own.
  • His close students included Nandalal Bose,Jamini Roy and Kalipada Ghoshal.
  • Believed that Indian traditions could be adapted to express these new values, and to promote a progressive Indian national culture.
  • Believed that Western art was "materialistic" in character, and that India needed to return to its own traditions in order to recover spiritual values.
  • Also lest significant landmark on bengali literature beside his devotion towords painting.
  • After meeting E.B. Havell, Tagore worked with him to revitalise and redefine art teaching at the Calcutta School of art, a project also supported by his brother Gaganendranath, who set up the Indian Society of Oriental Art.
  • At this time he left the Sanskrit College after nine years of study and studied English as a special student at St. Xavier's College, which he attended for about a year and a half.
  • In 1889 he married Srimati Suhasini Devi, daughter of Bhujagendra Bhusan Chatterjee, a descendant of Prasanna Coomar Tagore.
  • Learned art when studying at Sanskrit college in the 1880s.
  • His grandfather and his elder brother Gaganendranath Tagore were also artists.

Biography

Abanindranath Tagore
Last Updated: Saturday, May 16, 2009

Abanindranath Tagore, the nephew of Rabindranath Tagore, was born on 7th August 1871. He was one of the most prominent artists of the Bengal school of painting, along with being the first major supporter of swadeshi values in the Indian art. Abanindranath is also regarded as a proficient and accomplished writer. The painter tried to modernize Moghul and Rajput traditions as an answer to the growing influence of Western art under the British Raj. With this biography, we are trying to throw light on the life history of Abanindranath Tagore:

Abanindranath Tagore was born in the Jorasanko town of West Bengal. The younger bother of Gaganendranath Tagore, an eminent artist, Abanindranath was introduced to art in the 1880s, when he was studying at the Sanskrit College. In the year 1889, he married Srimati Suhasini Devi, the daughter of Bhujagendra Bhusan Chatterjee. It was around this time that he left the Sanskrit College and joined St. Xavier's College as a special student for one and a half years.

In 1897, the Vice-Principal of 'Calcutta Government School of Art' started teaching the traditional European academic manner to Abanindranath Tagore. During that time, Tagore developed an interest in watercolors and also came under the influence of Mughal art. He made some beautiful paintings based on the life of Lord Krishna, reflecting a strong influence of the Mughal style. A meeting with E.B. Havell convinced Abanindranath Tagore to work with him in the process of the renewal of the style of teaching at the Calcutta School of Art.

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