VICIOUS BRITISH PROPAGANDA AND THE CREATION OF THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS The Britishers began to immortalize their own ancient cultural traditions during their rule in India by depriving the ancient Indian cultural traditions, throwing the latter towards a path of hatred. Numerous English-Indian literates and youngsters agreed to this vicious propaganda without realizing the doom that it created. However, a large number of Indians, involving research scholars, artists, writers, and associates, disagreed upon this notion and were proud of their ancient Indian traditions, therefore they started creating few organizations that would revive the fallen Indian traditions in order to create a jolt against this Vicious propaganda. One example of such an organization was the formation of the “INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS” in 1885 by a retired British official A.O HUME along with the cooperation of a few Indians. The organization gradually started raising their voices against the tyrannies of the British Government and later went on to play one of the vital roles in the Indian Nationalist Movement. CULTURAL-ARTISTIC REVOLUTION Patriotic songs, stories, poems, and novels were created, establishing revolutionist feelings among the common people. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s famous novel “Anandmath” and our national song “Vande Mataram” circulated zeal and revolutionist consciousness among the Indian minds, especially among the youngsters. E.B Havel AND ABANINDRANATH TAGORE’S CONTRIBUTION- THE BENGAL SCHOOL OF ART Prof. E.B.Havell, Principle of the Government Art School, Kolkata, didn’t believe in the vicious British propaganda and removed Western relics from the art school, replacing them with the paintings of Ajanta Ellora, Rajput, and Mughal paintings, in order to encourage the Indian art. Abananindranath Tagore created and mastered the amalgamation of the European watercolor technique and blend of tempra and wash technique of Japan, to produce dreamland effects in his paintings. This style became symbolic of the Bengal style of paintings. Prof. E.B Havell was impressed with this style so much that he appointed him as the Vice-principal of that art school and further inspired him to study the paintings of Ajanta Ellora, Rajput, and Mughal style of paintings, in great depth. THE FOUNDATION STONES OF THE MODERN TRENDS OF INDIAN ART The Bengal school of painting laid down the foundation stones of modern paintings. Among Abanindranath Tagore’s elegant disciples were Nandlal Bose, Surendra Ganguli, Mukul Dey, Ashit Kumar Halder, Ukil Chugtai, Ravi Shankar Rawal, etc. MODERN INDIAN ART The people according to their status expressed their anger in different ways. Some of the famous Bengali painters and art lovers established an institution named “Indian Society of Oriental Art”, in 1907, to publish modern reviews. The institution sent some curious artists to England and Japan to learn new techniques of printing so that the popular and demanded paintings can be printed excellently and circulated everywhere. The leaders of these modern painting trends included famous painters like Raja Ravi Verma, Abanindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore, Jamini Roy, and Amrita Shergill. THE REVOLUTIONARY INDIAN MODERN PAINTINGS There were numerous paintings involved in the revolution for the modern trends. To name a few, through the paintings of Bharat Mata and Opri Hawake Sidh Log, Abinandranath Tagore successfully established the pattern of patriotism and was praised everywhere. The second picture of Bharat Mata was painted by Shirupurna Ghosh. In that painting, a beautiful lustrous woman has been shown wearing a red-bordered blue saree lifting from the ocean water with ripe grains of paddy in her hand. Her head covered with Himalayan ice gave an impression of a gold-studded crown with a pearl necklace swinging from her throat. On the other hand, Amrita Shergill painted Bharat Mata as an old woman wearing a white saree with a small baby in her lap and on the other hand holding a young girl child wearing a tattered saree. Their faces are marked with sorrow and anguish. In 1919, The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre led Gaganendranath Tagore to make a cartoon titled “Punjab Mei Shanti” which increased the hate among Indians towards the Britishers. Nandlal Bose’s paintings like “The Sati, The Death of Sati”, “The God of Fire” helped in restoring life among the Indian traditional paintings. In 1938, Bose delineated Indian Folk Art and Indian Public Life in the panel of a pavilion made for the Haripura Conference of the Indian National Congress. Hence, the Indian Nationalism through artistic revolution.
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