Painting, sage riding through mountains on a white horse, by Abanindranath Tagore, watercolour on paper, Bengal, 1920

Painting, in watercolour on paper, the scene shows a figure, a sage, wrapped in a red cape, riding a white horse along the side of a mountain.

A figure, a sage, wrapped in a red cape, riding a white horse along the side of a mountain.

Purchased with Art Fund support

From the J.C. French Collection (bought at the annual exhibition of the Indian Society of Oriental Art, Calcutta, 1920).
Purchased together with other items from the executors of the late J.C. French with the assistance of the National Art Collection Fund, 1955.

Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951) was the pioneer and leading exponent of the Bengal School of Art. In his paintings, he sought to counter the influence of Western art as taught in art schools under the British Raj, by modernizing indigenous Moghul and Rajput traditions. His work became so influential that it was eventually accepted and regarded as a national Indian style.

In his work, Abanindranath retrieved themes from the Indian epic past or scenes from romantic tales, such as Arabian Nights or Omar Khaiyam and reworked them in a highly romanticised style. The artist’s desire to emancipate Indian art from European influence was also fostered by Japanese artist Okakura Kakuzo, who visited him in 1902. Later, studying Japanese art under Japanese artists, Taikoan and Hilsida, Abanindranath assimilated Far Eastern techniques such as the wash into his work. His Omar Khaiyam series (1906-08) reflects such influences. Abanindranath’s use of colour was also highly personalized and found its appropriate language in two major techniques: wash and tempera.

This scene shows a figure wrapped in a red cape, riding a white horse along the side of a mountain. The figure of the sage could perhaps have been inspired by the maroon-robed Tibetan monks whom the artist would have encountered when painting landscapes at Darjeeling in 1919-20.

Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951) was the pioneer and leading exponent of the Bengal School of Art. In his paintings, he sought to counter the influence of Western art as taught in art schools under the British Raj, by modernizing indigenous Moghul and Rajput traditions. His work became so influential that it was eventually accepted and regarded as a national Indian style. Later, studying Japanese art under Japanese artists, Taikoan and Hilsida, Abanindranath assimilated Far Eastern techniques such as the wash into his work. This painting shows his use of the wash technique.

IS.197-1955