We all know about the great poet, lyricist, writer Rabindranath Tagore and his writings. Even those who haven’t read any of his pieces, must have heard his name. But about the other members of his family and their works, the common people have not much idea on those. Their contribution to the various fields of art have been limited into the artist community only. But, there have been immense contributions to the social and cultural construction of the educated Bengali society since the beginning of the 18th century.
Painting and Tagore family
Painting has a very deep connection with the family. Ancestors of the Tagore family, who were landlords by generation, were very fond of paintings. Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, along with Keshab Chandra Sen and Raja Rammohan Roy started Brahmo Samaj and that philosophical society brought so many artists close to them. They used to teach drawing to the children of the Tagore family from a very early age. Rabindranath and Abanindranath learnt painting from non-Indian art practitioners.
Rabindranath
This person was not just a writer, he was a musician, composer, actor, script writer, and also a painter. He was a complete artist from every end. He learnt the basic grammar of painting from the Japanese artist Shokin Katsuta. Later he has done amazing paintings and tried different forms of painting. Dancing Woman, Seven Figures, Dancing Girl, Head studies and so many unnamed works, all his works are now being placed into museums.
Abanindranath
A big name in the history of Indian Paintings. He was mad about painting. During his college life, he started learning painting on his own. During 1890, he took admission in the Calcutta School of Art and learnt painting from eminent globally acclaimed painters like C. Palmer, O. Ghilardi. But, he was a practitioner of the traditional Indian form of painting. He used to do watercolour and illustrations. His subjects were more character centred.
Sunayani Devi
Sister of Abanindranath Tagore, and a great portrait artist Sunayani Devi started her painting life from a very early age. But, not in an institution or under someone's supervision, she used to do it on her own will. She was inspired by a rural art form called Pata. Her philosophy of painting was completely modernist and her form was very much ethnic.
Gaganendranath
Another pioneer of modern art in India, Gaganendranath was the founder of Oriental School of Art, and was the first cartoonist of India. He learnt painting from Harinarayan Banerjee, their family teacher. He was the illustrator of the autobiography of Rabindranath, 'Jibansmriti'.
He used to make caricatures and his works spoke against social and economic oppression. Later he took responsibility for Visva-bharati.
