Painting Class in Berlin - 4 dates - Bengal School of Art

As an artist, my style is strongly influenced and inspired by European realism. It feels at times that my inner self has two definitive likings. On one hand, it's the realism; be it the anatomical understanding of the human form, or the dramatics of realistic lighting. The other side is grace and calmness of the Indian style of painting(that Bengal school of art). My solo exhibition of paintings remains evidence of this culmination of two distinctively different styles. However, according to my understanding, what came through practice, is that one really compliments the other. In my workshop, we will have presentations, lectures, and practical classes. We will learn about the Bengal school of art, and experience the process of creating paintings in this style.

Bengal school of art

Emerging in early 20th-century India during the British Raj (the period of British rule over the Indian subcontinent that ended in 1947), the Bengal School of Art sought to establish a distinctly Indian art that celebrated an indigenous cultural heritage rather than Western art and culture. Ernest Binfield Havell, a teacher at the Calcutta Art School, was instrumental in the movement’s formation. Rejecting the academic tradition typically promoted in British art schools, he encouraged students’ discovery of Mughal art—art produced under the Mughal empire in Southern Asia between 1526 and 1857—a curriculum that was vehemently protested by the faculty, students, and press. With the young painter Abanindranath Tagore, Havell went on to spearhead a nationalist and modern art movement that celebrated historical, spiritual, and artistic Indian traditions. Comprising a diverse group of artists that included Gaganendranath Tagore, and Ganesh Pyne, the Bengal School of Art also incorporated elements from Far Eastern art, such as the Japanese wash technique.