Self portrait

Physical description

The painting depicts the full-face, self-portrait of the bearded artist. The unworked background and the enhanced contour push the figure out from the ground. The flatness of the figure is enhanced by the lack of colour and the use of primitive looking pencil lines.

Place of Origin

Calcutta, India (made)

Date

ca. 1930-40 (made)

Artist/maker

Tagore, Rabindranath, born 1861 - died 1941 (artist)

Materials and Techniques

Reproduction of drawing.

Marks and inscriptions

Signed in Bengali.

Dimensions

Height: 48.6 cm Conservation paper upon which card is printed, Width: 29.6 cm Conservation paper upon which card is printed

Object history note

RF No: 61/1768. Given by B. Baer. The reproduction made by Ganymed Press, was commissioned by the Government of India for the 'Poet's Pictures: The Drawings of Rabindranath Tagore' exhibition held at the Commonwealth Institute from 5-28 May 1961 in connection with the centenary celebration of Tagore's birth in May 1861.
This is one of a set of 40 reproductions given to the V&A by the Ganymed Press in return for mouting and framing them for the above exhibition. The catalogue for the exhibition is held in the RFs. The last page of the catalogue gives a list of the owners of the original paintings from which the reproductions were made.

Historical context note

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was a Bengali polymath, being a poet, visual artist, playwright, novelist and composer. His work reshaped Bengali literature and music during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1913, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature and was knighted by the British Crown in 1915.

Rabindranath was born in Calcutta and grew up into a family whose exceptional creativity spearheaded the city's cultural scene. In 1901, he set up the Santiniketan School (later known as Visva Bharati University) on the Birbhum family countryside lands (outside Calcutta). The institution, conceived as an alternative to the educational system set up by the British, was modelled after the forest schools of ancient India. In 1919, Rabindranath founded the art wing Kala Bhavan at Santiniketan and invited the artist Nandalal Bose to paint frescos on the walls.

Rabindranath was involved with the Indian independence movement for independence but maintained throughout, the role of the enlightened poet who champions the universality of artistic expression. His earliest visual work appeared in his manuscripts of poems (eg. Purabi) and comprised of doodles, scribbles and erasures made out of unwanted words and lines.

Towards the end of his career, aged 67, striving to create a universally accessible art, Rabindranath took up painting more consistently. In 1924 he travelled to China and Japan with Nandalal Bose and experimented with brush and wash techniques.
The artist developed a style characterised by simple bold forms and a rhythmic quality. The subjects depicted often involved animals, figures and statuesque women.Around 1928, Rabindranath made thousands of sketches and drawings using brush, pencil and pen. The artist’s work has been exhibited in India and internationally.

Descriptive line

Self portrait by Rabindranath Tagore, reproduction of drawing, Calcutta, ca. 1930-40

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Dr Ratan Parimoo, The paintings of the three great Tagores: Abanindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore and Rabindranath Tagore. Chronology and comparative studies, 1973.

Exhibition History

Poet's Pictures: The Drawings of Rabindranath Tagore (The Commonwealth Institute 05/05/1961-28/05/1961)

Categories

Prints

Collection code

SSEA