Jamini Roy, despite half-a-century since his passing, remains the most emulated artist by the lay practitioners of art in India, attesting to the immense success his unorthodox approach to modernism enjoys. In his lifetime, his complete turnaround from his Western training in art, to synthesise a new modernist language for Indian art based on folk forms, revolutionised the art scene of the country, opening up new pathways of experimentation for artists.
It is not a surprise then that works by Roy, a National Treasure artist, remain some of the most sought after.
Roy was born on April 11, 1887, in the village of Beliatore in Bankura district of present day West Bengal. He joined the Government School of Art, Calcutta, in 1903 and his early works comprise landscapes and portraits in the post-impressionistic genre. But soon, he drifted towards folk art and found inspiration in patachitras of local traditional artists of Bengal, known as patuas, to create a distinctive style of his own—it is most easily recognised through thick lines that give voluptuous shapes to forms, which are quintessentially folk in their stylisation and are filled with earthy colours rooted in folk and rural sensibilities of the Indian tradition. His subjects were people around him, the village folk in particular such as the Bauls, Bauris, Santhals or Mallas.
Another characteristic of his art was that he shed the non-essentials in his search for universal elements and reached a stage where his figures, shorn of frills and decorations, attained a frieze-like architectonic quality.
His rejection of the then ‘modern’ style of painting and his foray into the realm of Bengali folk paintings revolutionised the modernist language and marked a new beginning in the history of Indian art.
Roy had numerous solo exhibitions and group shows in both India and abroad. His works can be found in many private collections as well as with institutions and museums across the world. Honoured with the Padma Bhushan by the government of India in 1955, Roy passed away in Calcutta on April 24, 1972.