Medium never presented a barrier for Nandalal Bose’s artistic practice. After coming to Santiniketan at the invitation of Rabindranath Tagore, a new side of Nandalal, one of the leading artists of the Bengal School and the revered Mastermoshai of Santiniketan, came to the fore.
Around 1952, to teach students composition, he tore brown paper into pieces of various shapes. Using these pieces, he created all sorts of amusing characters of people and animals. He often added short writings and comments to these. He called these works 'hela-felar kaaj' (unserious work). Mastermoshai would quickly draw various pictures on postcards in his day-to-day comings and goings. After that, he would scribble something and give them as gifts to students and relatives.
The exhibition 'Nandalal Bose: Postcards and More', which features 27 such artworks (two side panels) acquired from the family of artist Gauri Bhanj, opened at the Art Exposure Gallery (Lake View Road) on July 4. The postcards were drawn over a period of more than two decades (1930-1952). The exhibition features the use of monochrome mediums of pencil or ink-pen and techniques like etching or wash, as well as some collages. The images include his favourite subjects - a Nulia wearing a cap, a hippopotamus, an elephant, a squirrel painted in Baroda and Santiniketan as well as a single oil portrait of a man wearing a headband. Nandalal generally avoided oil painting as he adopted Indian style techniques as the basis of his teaching. However, according to the family of Chitranibha Chowdhury, he created this unique work of art to demonstrate the technique of oil painting, which bears the note ‘For nibha’. After studying art under Nandalal from 1928 to 1935, Chitraniva became the first woman to teach at Kalabhavan. The exhibition also includes some works from the 'Tak Duma Dum' series. The exhibition will run until August 28, daily from 11 am to 8 pm, except holidays.