Indian Society of Oriental Art

Indian Society of Oriental Art
Name	Indian Society of Oriental Art
Formation	1907
Founders	Abanindranath Tagore; E. B. Havell
Type	Art society; cultural institution
Location	Calcutta, British India
Fields	Painting; printmaking; patronage
Notable members	Abanindranath Tagore; Nandalal Bose; E. B. Havell; B. N. Seal; M. A. Rahman Chughtai

Indian Society of Oriental Art was a Calcutta-based institution founded to promote painting, graphic arts, and cultural exchange in early twentieth-century South Asia. It fostered revivalist movements in painting associated with the Bengal School and provided exhibition, publication, and pedagogic platforms that connected artists, collectors, and intellectuals across British India and beyond. The Society acted as a node linking figures from the Tagore family, colonial administrators, and artists influenced by Persian, Mughal, Ajanta, and East Asian traditions.

History

The Society emerged in 1907 amid debates catalyzed by the Bengal School revival and the tenure of E. B. Havell at the Calcutta School of Art; contemporaneous events included reforms at the Victoria and Albert Museum, discussions involving Raja Ravi Varma’s reception, and the cultural nationalism visible at the Indian National Congress sessions. Early exhibitions and lectures referenced art histories such as Ajanta Caves, Mughal painting, and Persian miniature traditions while responding to imported narratives from institutions like the British Museum, Tate Gallery, and Royal Academy of Arts. The Society navigated relationships with patrons including Rabindranath Tagore-affiliated networks, Mahatma Gandhi’s era cultural politics, and the collecting practices of Indian princely states such as Mysore Kingdom and Baroda State. During the interwar years, the Society engaged with international modernisms associated with names like Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, and exhibitions that paralleled initiatives by All-India Fine Arts and Crafts Society.

Founders and Key Figures

Founding personalities included Abanindranath Tagore and E. B. Havell, who articulated aesthetic philosophies reacting to John Ruskin’s and W. T. Stead’s influence on empire-era taste. Prominent members and collaborators who circulated through Society activities comprised Nandalal Bose, Rabindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore, Jamini Roy, Benode Behari Mukherjee, Mukul Dey, B. N. Seal, M. A. Rahman Chughtai, and collectors such as Prabash Chandra Sen and princely patrons like Nawab of Bhopal. Administrative figures and critics included curators from Indian Museum and educators from Government College of Art & Craft, Kolkata and correspondents linked to the Bombay Art Society and Madras School of Arts. International interlocutors ranged from scholars of Orientalism debates to visitors with connections to Tokyo School of Fine Arts, École des Beaux-Arts, and the British Council cultural circuits.

Activities and Publications

The Society organized exhibitions, lectures, and publications to disseminate visual cultures: annual catalogues, illustrated journals, and monographs that showcased works reminiscent of Ajanta murals, Rajasthani miniature, and Deccani painting. It produced print portfolios and bulletins paralleling publications from the Royal Asiatic Society and dialogues found in periodicals like The Modern Review and Prabasi. The Society’s publications included reproductions of works by Abanindranath Tagore, portfolios by Mukul Dey and writings on techniques influenced by Japanese woodblock practices and Ottoman print exchanges such as those visible in Istanbul-linked collections. Lecturers and essayists included historians associated with Asutosh Mukherjee, critics conversant with Ananda Coomaraswamy and scholars citing sources from Max Müller and Sylvain Lévi.

Exhibitions and Collections

Exhibitions held at venues tied to the Society displayed paintings, prints, and archival material that entered collections of institutions such as the National Gallery of Modern Art (India), Indian Museum, and private collections of the Tagore family and princely houses of Travancore and Bikaner. Touring shows connected to contemporaneous platforms like the All-India Art Exhibition and exchanges with galleries in Bombay, Madras, London, and Paris brought works by Jamini Roy, Nandalal Bose, Gaganendranath Tagore, and M. A. Rahman Chughtai into wider circulation. Catalogues documented acquisitions and loans involving artifacts from Mughal court ateliers, Persian Safavid albums, and regional archives from Orissa and Bengal schools.

Educational and Cultural Impact

The Society influenced pedagogy at institutions such as the Bengal School of Art and the Government College of Art & Craft, Kolkata through workshops, teacher exchanges, and curricula emphasizing indigenous methods resonant with Rabindranath Tagore’s educational experiments at Santiniketan. Its outreach intersected with cultural movements like the Swadeshi movement and intellectual circles including the Bengal Renaissance, shaping public taste alongside performances staged at venues like Calcutta University halls and salons patronized by families like the Tagores of Jorasanko. Training initiatives and portfolios informed practitioners who later worked with the Indian People's Theatre Association and designers contributing to film art direction in studios such as New Theatres.

Legacy and Influence on Indian Art =

The Society’s legacy endures in the canonization of the Bengal School aesthetic and in institutional collections at the National Gallery of Modern Art (India), archives maintained by the Rabindra Bharati Museum, and scholarship by historians associated with Gargi Ray and R. Siva Kumar. Its role shaped later modernists who negotiated between revivalism and international modernism—figures who taught at Santiniketan and exhibited with institutions like the Lalit Kala Akademi and Birla Academy of Art and Culture. The visual vocabulary promoted by the Society resonates in contemporary curatorial projects at Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, retrospective exhibitions honoring Abanindranath Tagore, and conservation efforts involving works traced to Ajanta and Mughal practices, securing its influence across South Asian art histories.

Category:Art societies in India Category:History of Indian art