The opening of GRIHAAS A discourse and the art practice of Sunayani Devi
Dr. Aparna Roy Baliga

According to Dipesh Chakravorty ‘Andar a space opposed to the public was mainly a space of femininity where men habituated after their jobs outside. Whereas a griha represents a state of mind, an ideological venture propounding a conscious moral and social being, rather than a functional place on earth. It is here that self-consciously advanced moral (and social) projects of ‘mothering’ and ‘conjugality’ bloom, and it has to be achieved through a process of ideological clarifications, and conscious practical socialization. Thus Griha opened up the public sphere for women. The informal education imparted by the Vaishnavis and the European teachers in the andarmahal or antahpur now got a new dimension. The glimpses of which can be seen again in the Jorashanko Thakurbari with the founding of Vichitrasabha/ club/Kala-bhavana.


Twentieth century Bengal saw the redesigning of the cultural sphere during the upsurge of the Swadeshi movement. The two central themes in this context are the familial social space designated as andarmahal / antahpur (inner-quarter) and griha (home/ household); the main creatororganizer of this space is named in the latter half of the century as grihini (the mistress of the home or the homemaker), especially in her incarnation of the bhadramahilaas, the mother. There is a shift in focus from the andarmahal to the idea of griha.


Dipesh Chakravorty further states that- The transformation of the andarmahal/antahpur into Griha, the emergence of the Bhadramahila as a mother and conjugal partner, even when captured at a conceptual level through an organization of the common sense of the propertied class into an ideology, both anticipate and mark the moment of advent of a ‘modern’ society where men and women can overstep the older sexual division of labour.

It is in this context that one sees the creation of ‘Vichitrasabha’ which Rabindranath conceived as agrihavidyalay. The beginning of this informal educational space took place due to the shifting of his son Rathindranath and his daughter-in-law Pratima Devi to Jorashanko. Nandalal after completing his education in the art school thought of renting a house where the artists will live together, eat and paint together like a family. Nandalal denied the job offered to him by Percy Brown as he was against any kind of employment related to colonial education. Hence he joined Vichitra which had an education system that was informal and structured around the local traditions and Far eastern art practices. It thus opened up a space where women could enter as participants. Within this context the paper aims to focus on the two women artists: Sunayani and Pratima Devi whose art education began from this private realm. Sunayani Devi became a part of this informal visual space. The art experience was mediated by the domestic experience. Family became an important part of her art practice. It was the unspoilt domain of femininity where she expressed her agency and thus her works can be read within the context of the ‘home and the world’. She mentions-‘They work in the midst of the hustle of the outer world, I work in an inner world’. Manimala Chatterjee wrote-‘I will narrate how Sunanayani Devi was involved in art practice within the boundaries of domesticity. She would paint while performing her daily domestic duties. Sunayani was born on the 18th June, 1875 and died on 23rd February, 1962. She was born to Gunendranath Tagore and Soudamini Devi. Her three brothers, Gaganendranath, Abanindranath and Samrendranath were artists. Her aunt Kumudini inspired her. Her room full of birds and mythological paintings by Ravi Varma filled young Sunayani with wonderment. This narration gives a glimpse of the interior space, the contemporary taste of acquiring Ravi Varma. Sunayani may have imbibed the mythological narration from Ravi Varma but pictorially she absorbed the spiritual quality of Abanindranath’s paintings and also from Japanese image making. The subtle, translucent water colour gave her paintings a dreamy quality where forms appeared and disappeared within hazy tints. It is being mentioned that Sunayani started painting when she was between thirty and thirtyfive. Her first signed pictures appear in 1923. Her most active years were between 1923 and 1940. I have already mentioned about her association with Vichitra Sabha which had been earlier than the dates mentioned by Amina Ahmad Kar. The informal nature of the Grihavidya-lalayaaimed at no routine or strict membership but emphasized on familial bonding. Sunayani would follow her brothers, learn by following them but would chart out her own journey. She also copied from Probasi, an acclaimed journal which was popular among the Bengali intelligentsia.