Modern Indian Sculptors
The modernism in Indian sculpture has come via the transition from academism of the 20th century to well-defined non-objectivism of recent times. In early 20th century, the Indian sculpture adapted to the western academic art traditions and thus, the artists who trained in the academic realist style at British art schools worked on secular subjects.
This was a significant departure from the ancient and medieval norms, where the artists worked on myths and deities. This was the phase of intense and exaggerated realism in Indian sculpture. Many of the famous sculptors were trained painters and vice versa.
This phase continued with more and more developments added by important sculptors such as D.P Roy Chowdhury, Fanindranath Bose and V. P. Karmarkar.
The most important turning point in the modern Indian sculpture was in the form of works by Ramkinkar Baij in 1940s and 1950s. Baij looked afresh at both western and traditional Indian norms, and mixed them up in modern context. He not only was able to input the indigenous content in the sculptures but also experimented with unconventional material such as concrete, gravel and cement. The rural landscape and tribal communities were his subjects.
The 1950s onward, a variety of experiments have been done in the Indian sculpting. This includes experiments with wood, stone and unusual material such as hemp.
The following section deals with the contribution of important modern sculptors of India.
D.P Roy Chowdhury
D.P Roy Chowdhury (1899-1975) was basically a realistic artist, well known for his monumental sculptures installed in the public spaces. He was also a painter from the Bengal School of art, trained under Abhanindranath Tagore. In sculpture he was inspired by the Impressionist works of the modern Western sculpture, Auguste Rodin (French). Roy Chowdhury’s forte was casting rather than carving. He is known for portraits of Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda, his notable sculptures are Triumph of Labour (statue located at Marina beach Chennai) and Martyrs’ Memorial (Bhopal).
Fanindranath Bose (1888 – 1926)
Fanindranath Bose lived only for 37 years, yet has left a profound impact on the New Sculpture, though he remains to be an unsung hero. He is best known for reproducing the human body in bronze.
He was trained at Calcutta School of Art before moving to Europe to fulfil his ambition to become a sculptor. He got enrolled at the Board of Manufacturers School of Edinburgh and married a Scottish woman and settled in Edinburgh. He was recruited by Sayaji Rao III Gaekwad, Maharaja of Baroda, to teach briefly at Baroda College whilst he was making eight sculptures for the Gaekwad’s Laxmi Vilas Palace and two for Baroda Gallery. Bose turned down an invitation to work on the Victoria Memorial in Calcutta for unknown reasons. Important works are: Boy in Pain, Hunter, The Sahdu, The snake charmer, An Indian peasant girl, St John the Baptist.
V. P. Karmarkar
Vinayak Pandurang Karmarkar (1891-1966) was born in Raigad district in the year 1891.His father used to make Ganesh idols. Karmarkar was interested in drawing and get his first sculpture lessons at home from his father. That time, the district collector Otto Rothfield saw a drawing of Shivaji made by Karmarkar and realized his talent. His efforts were able to get Karmarkar enrolled in the JJ School of Arts. He was later trained at Calcutta School. He aslo started his own studio in Kolkata for some period but had to return back to Bombay due to lack of patronage over there. After that, he was taken up by the Maharastran nationalists who wished to commemorate the nationalist icon Chatrapati Shivaji with a life size equestrian statue. He sculpted the bronze statue of King Shivaji which weighs 8 tons and is 13.5 feet high. This statue is situated at the Military preparatory school in Pune. He did some excellent work by making sculptures of Gopalkrishna Gokhale, Acharya Kriplani and Matsyagandha. Later he studied at the London Royal Academy. He was awarded the Padmashri by the Indian government in 1962.
Ramkinkar Baij
Ramkinker Baij (1906-1980), was a powerful modern painter and sculptor, best known for his magnum opus “Santhal Family” sculpture. Born in the Bankura District of West Bengal, Baij was a son of a village masseuse and barber. He came to Santiniketan on account of the skilful posters he painted during the non-cooperation movement. Here, he became another disciple of Nand Lal Bose, and then became one of the pioneers of modern Indian sculpture. He joined the Visva-Bharati University at Santiniketan as a fine arts student. At Santiniketan, under the guidance of Nandalal Bose, his artistic skills and intellectual horizons acquired new depth and complexity.
Initially, he started making sculptures which were innovative in subject matter and personal in style.
Santhal Family
His first magnum opus in this genre was the Santal Family done in 1938. Santhal Family is widely considered to be the first public Modernist sculpture in India. This sculpture depicts a mother, father, child and dog from the Santhal tribe, carrying their few possessions with them to a new life. It was made of cement cast and laterite pebbles.
The artistic creations of Ramkinkar Baij have been inspired by the lifestyles of rural dalit or Adivasi communities. Through his sculptures, he represented the tribal peasants of the region, giving the figures iconic presence and dignified grace that was so far limited to the images of Gods and Rulers.
He took a great interest in human figures, body language, and in the general human drama. His main points of reference were modern western art and pre and post-classical Indian art. Regarding his work, he said: “I do not know whether what I am doing is modern or not, but it is based on my experience.”
Yaksha and Yakshini
Another famous work of Ramkinkar Baij was the Yaksha and Yakshini sculpture at the gates of RBI building in New Delhi. The art form of the male ‘Yaksha’ was drawn from the statue of the ‘Parkham Yaksha’ in the Mathura museum and the art form of the female Yakshini was derived from “Bisnagar Yakshini” from the Calcutta Museum.
Famine
The sculpture Famine was invariably triggered by the Bengal Famine of 1943, a happening that made him enter a pictorial space from the real.
Gandhi Dandi March
Despite its name, the sculpture depicts Gandhi at Noakhali in 1947. The skull at his foot stands for the violence he walked into. The larger version of the work executed in concrete is at Santiniketan. This is the original model and is from the NGMA collection.
Mill Call
Mill Call installed in Santiniketan, depicts a working-class family setting off for work on hearing the mill siren. It was done in concrete and laterite pebbles: Baij would throw the concrete inside the armature, a technique he used for the last time in this sculpture.
Paintings
His paintings too take on expressionist dimensions like his sculptures, which are filled with force and vitality.
Legacy and awards
There is a book called ‘Dekhi Nai Fire’ based on Baij’s life and work, written by Samaresh basu. In 1975, Ritwik Ghatak wisely made a documentary on Baij named ‘Ramkinkar’ where he featured him as a political icon. He was awarded Deshikottom by Visva-Bharati University. In 1970, he was honoured with Padma Bhushan by the Government of India. He died in 1980.
Sankho Chaudhuri
Sankho Chaudhuri was a student of Ramkinkar Baij. He began close to cubism and then was influenced by Istvan Beothy. His themes have included the female figure and wildlife. Chaudhuri was best known for carving his pieces out of wood and stone or moulding in metal simple and austere forms mostly intertwined with each other or broken into angles.
These often had a sweeping loftiness and smooth and polished surfaces. Besides a variety of wood, he used marble, both black and white and with zebra stripes, and limestone, which were characterised by a sheen.
He was worked in a wide range of media, and has produced both large-scale reliefs and mobiles. He expired in the year 2006. In 1956, he received the National Award by Lalit Kala Akademi. He also became the Padma shri recipient in the year 1971. He became the Fellow of Lalit Kala Akademi in 1982. He was delivered the Desikottama by Viswa Bharati University in 1988. In 2000-02, he received the Kali Das Samman.
