Kala Bhavana : A Living Tradition
Siddharth Sivakumar

It is said that a true universal man is inspired to look beyond his time and space,
while being constantly motivated by ground realities and local interests. Managing
the seemingly paradoxical was the crucial task set by Tagore, and achieved by
Nandalal Bose, Ramkinkar Baij and Binodebehari Mukherjee—now considered as
the pioneers of Modern Indian art. An influence of the Far-Eastern tradition can
be traced in their paintings, explicitly in Binodebehari’s watercolours. The French
artist Andree Karpeles, art-historian Stella Kramrisch and, eventually, sculptor
Marguerite Milward also joined in as teachers to introduce the Indian students to
the Western ideas. During these formative years, the art practice at Kala Bhavana
flourished with a steadfast belief in the need for building a contextual modernism.
Under Kala Bhavana’s triumvirate, many artists of the era including Surendranath
Kar, Sudhir Khastagir and Manidra Bhushan Gupta shifted gears in order to
steer Indian art towards a new direction. Following them, Sankho Chaudhuri,
Jaya Appaswamy, Dinkar Kowshik, Riten Mazumdar, K. G. Subramanyan and
A. Ramachandran made their mark in contemporary Indian art, realizing Tagore’s
vision of relevant art. Though some of them are no longer with us their art has
out lived them, not as ghosts from an age gone by, but as glowing spirits of the
modern reality. Riten Mazumdar was one of India’s finest designers. Although,
it was from the 60s to the 80s that he served as Fabindia’s main designer, we
continue to catch glimpses of his simple yet dignified designs even today. Similarly,
the creations of Somnath Hore and Sarbari Roy Choudhury
continue to live on even though they are not with us anymore.
K. G. Subramanyan and A. Ramachandran remain stalwarts
of Contemporary Indian art, sustaining the living tradition
along with contemporaries like Sanat Kar, Suhas Roy,
Laluprasad Shaw and Jogen Chowdhury, who had joined Kala
Bhavana as teachers later on.
Apart from the academics, dictates and the inspiring
abundance of Nature, life in Kala Bhavana is replete with
study tours, art camps, picnics and camp-fires, along with
Nandan Mela (the art fair). Kala Bhavana also takes part
in the various cultural events of Santiniketan, and thus, is
considered to be one of Visva-Bharati’s priceless assets. These
cultural interactions effectually bring art to the common man
and expose the artist to the greater socio-cultural milieu.
Like a harvester Kala Bhavana has gathered art works, big
and small, for almost a century now. Around fifty sculptures,
and murals, produced by it’s teachers and students, embellish
the university campus at Santiniketan. Ramkinkar Baij’s
iconic ‘Mill Call’, ‘Sujata’, ‘Buddha’ and ‘Thresher’, numerous
murals by Benodebehari Mukherjee, K.G. Subramanyan,
and Somnath Hore, Sankho Choudhury’s sculptural relief,
Surendra Kar’s architecture and Radhakrishnan’s sculpture
‘Terrafly’, are some of them. Personalities like Indira Gandhi
and Satyajit Ray, who were associated with Kala Bhavana,
were naturally motivated by what they saw and felt in the
creative air of Santiniketan. Ray’s “Inner Eye”, a documentary
film featuring his teacher, Benodebehari Mukherjee, exudes
his admiration for the contributions made by Kala Bhavana
to Indian art.