FOLK-STYLE TRADITIONS IN INDIGENOUS ART OF JAMINI ROY

Abstract

In early years during the twentieth century, there was a move towards seeking cultural roots, among artists in Bengal, guided by Abanindranath Tagore. Jamini Roy was one of them who made the pioneering efforts to foster self-respect for the indigenous creative output and greatly influenced the perspective towards art in those times.Jamini Roy received his art education through Western art perceptions but as opposed to the aristocratic perspective of the Bengal Art School, Jamini Roy drew inspiration from folk style traditions to create a peculiar indigenous style of his own. He found a quality of freshness, directness and robustness in the artistic spirit that still survives in the scrolls, Kalighat paintings, Puja images and the hordes of artifacts created for rituals – all synthesized with the visual effects of Kanthas and Alpanas. Strong beauty of line work, powerful colour scheming and flawless motifs characterized his impeccable style.Roy, in fact, was trend setter as he had projected the popular style amongst artists to adopt folk style and folk traits to recondition the art works in 1930s. His style of painting is still relevant in today’s Contemporary Art scenario. The images, motifs, symbols, and idioms used by Jamini Roy inspired a number of Indian artists of present times.