Sunayani Devi ( bn, সুনয়নী দেবী; 18 June 1875 – 23 February 1962) was an Bengali painter born into the aristocratic

Tagore family The Tagore family (also spelled as ''Thakur''), with over three hundred years of history,Deb, Chitra, pp 64–65. has been one of the leading families of Calcutta, India, and is regarded as one of the key influencers during the Bengali Renaissa ...

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comm ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the four ...

. She was a self taught artist, with no academic training in art. Inspired by her brothers, Abanindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore, and Samarendranath Tagore, she started painting only at the age of 30. She was married at the age of 12 to the grandson of Raja Ram Mohan Roy.

Early life

Sunayani Devi was born on 18 June 1875 in the historically influential

in Calcutta to Gunendranath Thakur and Soudamini Devi. She was married at the age of 12 to Rajanimohan Chattopadhyaya. According to the writer, Partha Mitter, she never had formal training in art other than the art and music lessons as feminine accomplishments.

Painting style and themes

Known to be a true primitive of the Bengal Art School, she drew inspiration from the

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folk painting style which was familiar to the women of the Tagore household, often depicting scenes from Indian epics and mythologies in her works. Some of her notable works are ''Sadhika'', ''Ardhanarisvar'', ''Satir Dehatyag'', ''Milk Maids'' and ''Yashoda and Krishna''. According to Stella Kramrisch, she was the first modern painter in India. Her works were exhibited in 1922 as part of the Bauhaus artists' exhibition in Calcutta. Since the beginning, her works have been original and bold. They resemble the ancient Jain manuscript paintings. She applied wash technique to its fullest and later her works echoed the native imagery like village clay dolls that would be used as ornamentation. Her works are an amalgamation of modernist dialogue of primitive simplicity and a larger national discourse of being rooted in its cultural identity, thus carving her image as a nationalist artist. Critical analyses of her portraits, have led her to be addressed as a naive painter, who used folk themes with allure and sensitivity.

Exhibitions

Among Devi's exhibitions are: * 1908, 10, 12 Exhb., Indian Society of Oriental Art, Calcutta * 1911 United Provinces Exhb. organised by Indian Society of Oriental Art, Allahabad * 1911 Festival of Empire, organised by Indian Society of Oriental Art for George V's coronation, Crystal Palace, London * 1924 Travelling exhb. organised by Indian Society of Oriental Art and American Federation of Art, USA * 2004 Manifestations II, organised by Delhi Art Gallery, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai and Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi * 2011 Summer Oasis, organised by Chitrakoot Art Gallery, Kolkata

Museums

Sunayani Devi's paintings are part of the collection of many museums, including: * Indian Museum Kolkata * National Gallery of Modern Art, Bangalore * National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi *

National Art Gallery, Chennai The National Art Gallery situated in Egmore, Chennai, is one of the oldest art galleries in India. It is located in the Government Museum Complex on Pantheon Road, Egmore, which also houses the Government Museum and the Connemara Public Librar ...

* Sri Chitra Art Gallery, Thiruvananthapuram * Jaganmohan Palace, Mysore *

University of Lucknow The University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is a public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Founded in 1920, the University of Lucknow is one of the oldest government owned institutions of higher ...

* Rabindra Bharati University Museum, Kolkata * Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata

References

External links

Profile on Google Arts & Culture

Profile on indianculture.gov.in
{{Authority control Painters from West Bengal Indian women painters Artists from Kolkata Tagore family Bengal Renaissance 20th-century Indian painters Women artists from West Bengal 20th-century Indian women artists 1875 births 1962 deaths Bengali Hindus