Painting, a funeral procession, by Gaganendranath Tagore, watercolour on paper, Kolkata, ca. 1915

Painting in watercolour on paper, the artist has depicted a sombre painting in greys and black with touches of red paint. The long funeral procession silhouetted in black and grey with torches and the draped bier in red, fade away down a street of tall buildings while tall industrial chimneys exude smoke and flame above. Given that there were no factories in Calcutta or India at the time, it is possible that the artist invented the composition entirely or drew inspiration from a photograph or painting. The gloomy watercolour is reminiscent of British painter Lawrence Stephen Lowry. Interestingly, the watercolour is initialled by the artist and printed with a seal of two lotus feet in red ink. The seal is reminiscent of Vishnu footprint sectarian stamp. (Sectarian seals or stamps of this type are associated with the worship of Vishnu or his incarnations, Rama and Krishna, and their consorts. In preparation for their morning worship, the devotees of Chaintanya imprint their bodies with the divine names or attributes, using the stamp to apply a dilute paste.)

The long funeral procession silhouetted in black and grey with torches and the draped bier in red, fade away down a street of tall buildings while tall industrial chimneys exude smoke and flame above.

R. F. 83/772 Formerly in the possession of the Marquis of Zetland. Purchased from Sotheby's.

Gaganendranath Tagore (1867-1938) was a satirical cartoonist and painter. Born in Calcutta, Gaganendranath grew up in a family whose exceptional creativity spearheaded Calcutta's cultural scene. Gaganendranath was nephew of poet Rabindranath Tagore and brother of Abanindranath Tagore, the pioneer and leading exponent of the Bengal School of Art.

The artist received no formal education but was trained under the British school watercolourist Harinarayan Bandopadhyay. In 1907, he founded the Indian Society of Oriental Art with his brother Abanindranath. Between 1906 and 1910, the artist assimilated the Japanese brush technique and Far Eastern pictorial conventions into his own work (see his illustrations for Rabindranath Tagore's autobiography Jeevansmriti published in 1912.) From 1910 until 1914, Gaganendranath developed his own approach to SUMI-E or black ink (see Chaitanya series and Pilgrim series.) Between 1915 and 1919, the artist, with the help of his brother, set up the Bichitra club in the Tagore family house. The club served as an important social, intellectual and artistic hub of cultural life in Calcutta, where many artists, including Nandalal Bose, A.K. Haldar and Suren Kar worked at their paintings.

During these years, Gaganendranath abandoned the ideological revivalism embraced by the Bengal School of Art and took up caricature to satirize the westernised middle class of urban Bengal. The artist's popularity was secured in 1917 when Modern Review published many of his shrewd cartoons. From 1917 onwards, his lithographs appeared in a series of books, including: Play of Opposites, Realm of the Absurd and Reform Screams. In these mocking pieces, the austerity of Kalighat paintings is wedded to the simplicity of Japanese prints. Between 1920 until 1925, Gaganendranath, informed about modern European art, pioneered experiments in cubism colour and in ink. His work however, was pictorially closer to the dynamism of Italian Futurism rather than the work of Picasso and Braque. From 1925 onwards, the artist developed a complex post-cubist style. Gaganendranath's work has been exhibited internationally.

Gaganendranath Tagore (1867-1938) was a satirical cartoonist and painter. Born in Calcutta, Gaganendranath grew up in a family whose exceptional creativity spearheaded Calcutta's cultural scene. Gaganendranath was nephew of poet Rabindranath Tagore and brother of Abanindranath Tagore, the pioneer and leading exponent of the Bengal School of Art.

The artist has depicted a sombre painting in greys and black with touches of red paint. The long funeral procession silhouetted in black and grey with torches and the draped bier in red, fade away down a street of tall buildings while tall industrial chimneys exude smoke and flame above. The gloomy watercolour is reminiscent of British painter Lawrence Stephen Lowry.

Interestingly, the watercolour is initialled by the artist and printed with a seal of two lotus feet in red ink. The seal is reminiscent of Vishnu footprint sectarian stamp. Sectarian seals or stamps of this type are associated with the worship of Vishnu or his incarnations, Rama and Krishna, and their consorts.

IS.12-1983