SAN DIEGO MUSEUM of ART | Rhythms of India: The Art of Nandalal Bose (1882-1966)

February 23—May 18, 2008

The San Diego Museum of Art has organized the first comprehensive traveling exhibition outside of Asia to survey the expansive repertoire of Nandalal Bose (1882–1966), the father of modern art in India. Rhythms of India features close to 100 of Bose’s finest paintings, which are executed in a variety of styles and media. It also reveals how Bose contributed to the success of India’s non-violent struggle for independence from colonial rule through his close association with Mahatma Gandhi.

Organized through an unprecedented collaboration with the government of India and the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, this groundbreaking exhibition explores the crucial period of India’s transition from a British colony to an independent nation through the lens of the country’s premier artist of the time. The exhibition also marks the first time that a survey of Bose’s work has been permitted to leave Asia. The works on view reveal the way Bose contributed to the development of a new Indian art form and laid the foundation for modern visual culture in independent India.

Nandalal Bose was born in Bihar, India, in 1882. At the beginning of his career in 1905, he was one of many artists and visionaries who sought to revive the spirituality and cultural authenticity of Indian art after 50 years of colonial rule and westernization. In 1919, Bose became the first director of the art school at the new university founded by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in rural Bengal. Here, traditional Indian teaching methods were favored over British-style education.

For the following three decades, Bose began to experiment with a variety of indigenous Indian, Japanese, and Chinese techniques. His work consisted more of scenes of nature and tribal and village life, as well as devotional subjects. It was his portrayal of village India without dependence on Western materials or styles that captured the attention of Gandhi and catapulted Bose to the status of national icon as the only artist Gandhi patronized.

Rhythms of India: The Art of Nandalal Bose (1882–1966) is organized by the San Diego Museum of Art in collaboration with the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi. The exhibition is made possible by the generosity of Roohi and Rajiv Savara, the Savara Art Foundation, Priya and Mukesh Assomull, Fiona and Sanjay Jha, the Arts and Culture Fund of The San Diego Foundation, and Gayatri and C.K. Prahalad. Additional support is provided by Dr. and Mrs. V.S. Ramachandran, Lucy and James Haugh, the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture, the County of San Diego Community Enhancement Program, and members of the San Diego Museum of Art. Education programs are supported by The San Diego Foundation and SDMA’s Asian Arts Council and Committee for the Arts of the Indian Subcontinent.