National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) Bengaluruwill showcase painterNandalal Bose’s ‘Haripura Panels’,considered national treasures, for the first time, starting next week.The show will be on view until April 2024.
The ‘Haripura Panels’ is a series of 400 watercolour posters, depicting the everyday life of villagers in India. It is amongBose’s most popular works,done on handmade paper with organic colours.It was commissioned by Mahatma Gandhi andwas used as a backdrop forthe 51st session of the Indian National Congress in 1938. The session took place in Haripura, Gujarat, and was attended by over 2lakhpeople.
The upcoming show will mount77of these panels andit will be the first such comprehensive showcase in India,saysNazneen Banu, director of NGMA Bengaluru and Mumbai. “This exhibition has beenin the works forfive to six years,”she tellsMetrolife.
Hailing from West Bengal, Bosewasone of the pioneers of modern Indian art. He was a pupil of Abanindranath Tagore and was deeply influenced by Indian murals such aspaintings at theAjantacaves.Over time, he became popular for adding anIndian touchto hisartwork.
To createthe‘Haripura Panels’, Bose spent several weeks in Vithalnagar, a village near Haripura, observingthe daily life of the locals.Each panel depicts a different village scene — a farmer tilling the land,amother bathing her child, afemaleartist painting in solitude, a horse chariot adorned withthetricolour, and a woman churning butter.He also paintedanimals, flowers, and plants on these posters.
“Thesepieces of art areas relevant today as they were decades ago. The subjectfocusesonordinary people. It gives a lot of insight intorural life and the self-sustaining rural economy.Morethan50%of Indiansstill reside in villages and their daily lives largely remain the same,” says Nazneen.
The exhibition will also put on display a copy of the manuscript of ‘Constitution of India’, featuring illustrations done by Bose. A lino-cut print of Mahatma Gandhi leading the Dandi March, done by Bose, will also be exhibited.
The exhibition will be inaugurated on November 3, 3.30 pm, at NGMA, Vasanth Nagar. On view until April 28, 2024.
(Published 27 October 2023, 01:13 IST)