# Santiniketan & Bengal School Graphics

> The nationalist, anti-academic art of Calcutta and Santiniketan, which turned from oil-paint naturalism and chromolithograph gloss to Indian and pan-Asian sources. Abanindranath Tagore's circle painted in soft, layered Japanese-derived washes (Bharat Mata, 1905); Nandalal Bose's Kala Bhavana took the pata's brush line, earth pigments and alpana motifs into the Dandi March linocut (1930), the Haripura panels (1938) and the illuminated Constitution (1949). R. Siva Kumar calls subsuming the Santiniketan masters under the Bengal School misleading; the entry joins them by shared graphic choices.

- Period: 1905–1954
- Where: South Asia
- Origin: Calcutta, where E. B. Havell, principal of the Government School of Art from 1896 and a campaigner for 'the revival of Indian art and craft', and Abanindranath Tagore led a Swadeshi-era 'Indian style', and where Okakura Kakuzō's students Yokoyama Taikan and Hishida Shunsō brought the Tagores the nihonga wash; then Kala Bhavana, which Rabindranath Tagore founded at Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, in 1919 and Nandalal Bose led from the early 1920s. The Arts and Crafts parentage runs through Havell's craft revival and Ananda Coomaraswamy, whose Mediaeval Sinhalese Art (1908) came from the Arts and Crafts Essex House Press at Broad Campden, in a house C. R. Ashbee had renovated for him; R. Siva Kumar names both, with Okakura, among the sources Nandalal Bose drew on
- Branch: Craft & organic
- Also known as: Bengal School of Art, Indian style of painting, Kala Bhavana style, Haripura posters
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/santiniketan-graphics/

## Use it with care

Alpana is a living ritual practice of women in Bengali homes, taught at Kala Bhavana by Sukumari Devi and others, and the pata line Santiniketan borrowed belongs to patua families who still paint: credit and commission these makers rather than lifting motifs. Bharat Mata and the Constitution's vignettes show Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Sikh figures that are still worshipped or revered, and the Bharat Mata image has since become associated with Hindu nationalism and is contested by some Muslims and Sikhs, so do not crop, mock or recast it as party propaganda. The State Emblem's use is restricted by the State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act, 2005.

## How it works

- Paint one stylised figure from village, epic or national life on a plain paper ground, and let a single fluent brush contour carry its form.
- Build colour from earth and mineral pigments (ochre, Indian red, indigo, lamp-black), laid flat in tempera or veiled in thin washes that soften and unify the tones; reject oil-paint modelling and chromolithograph gloss.
- Draw from Indian and Asian sources instead of European academic models: Ajanta murals, Mughal and Rajput miniatures, the Bengali pata and alpana floor patterns, and Japanese brush and wash technique.
- Make civic graphics by hand for everyone: unprinted painted panels of potters, drummers and mothers for a Congress pavilion, and a black-and-white linocut for a protest march.
- Treat a state document as an illuminated manuscript: calligraphed text in a gilded border, with each section opened by a vignette of India's history and landscape painted in gold leaf and stone colours.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Isolated object](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/isolated-object/) (defining)
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (characteristic)
- [Classical text block](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/classical-text-block/) (occasional)
- [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (defining)
- [Generous white space](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/generous-white-space/) (characteristic)
- [Sequential narrative](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/sequential-narrative/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Brush & pen calligraphy](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/brush-and-pen-calligraphy/) (occasional)
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Earth & mineral](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/earth-and-mineral/) (defining)
- [Analogous harmony](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/analogous-harmony/) (characteristic)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (characteristic)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (characteristic)
- [Gradients](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/gradients/) (occasional)
- [Jewel & metallic](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/jewel-and-metallic/) (occasional)
- [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (occasional)
- [Pastel](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pastel/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (defining)
- [Biomorphic curves](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/biomorphic-curves/) (characteristic)

### Surface & texture
- [Painterly brushwork](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-brushwork/) (defining)
- [Paper & letterpress bite](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/paper-and-letterpress-bite/) (characteristic)
- [Carved line](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/carved-line/) (characteristic)

### Ornament
- [Restrained accents](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/restrained-accents/) (characteristic)
- [Borders & frames](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/borders-and-frames/) (characteristic)
- [Folk & sacred symbols](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/folk-and-sacred-symbols/) (characteristic)
- [Floral & vegetal](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/floral-and-vegetal/) (occasional)
- [Emblems & badges](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/emblems-and-badges/) (occasional)

### Imagery
- [Painterly illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-illustration/) (defining)
- [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (characteristic)
- [Pattern & repeat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pattern-and-repeat/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Hand-painted](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-painted/) (defining)
- [Pen, brush & ink](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pen-brush-and-ink/) (characteristic)
- [Woodblock & linocut](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/woodblock-and-linocut/) (characteristic)
- [Lithography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/lithography/) (occasional)
- [Architecture & signage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/architecture-and-signage/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Utopian & idealistic](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/utopian-and-idealistic/) (defining)
- [Calm & contemplative](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/calm-and-contemplative/) (characteristic)
- [Warm & approachable](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/warm-and-approachable/) (characteristic)
- [Spiritual & sacred](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/spiritual-and-sacred/) (characteristic)
- [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (characteristic)
- [Nostalgic & retro](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/nostalgic-and-retro/) (characteristic)
- [Authoritative & institutional](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/authoritative-and-institutional/) (occasional)
- [Romantic & sensual](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/romantic-and-sensual/) (occasional)

Avoids: Naturalistic depiction, Gloss & highlights, Straight photography, Grotesque & neo-grotesque, Modular grid, Complementary clash, Horror vacui

Palette: #ece2c9, #221d19, #c8932f, #a3432a, #35506c, #8f9a7a

Typefaces: Prem Behari Narain Raizada's flowing italic pen calligraphy for the English text of the Constitution of India (No. 303 nib), Vasant Krishan Vaidya's Devanagari calligraphy for the Hindi Constitution

Known for: Abanindranath Tagore, Bharat Mata (first titled Banga Mata), watercolour, 1905: a saffron-clad woman with four arms holding a book, sheaves of paddy, white cloth and a rudraksha garland, painted during the Swadeshi movement; shown at the Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata, in 2016; Ramananda Chatterjee's illustrated edition of Krittibas's Bengali Ramayana 'for family reading', with reproductions of recent pictures including Abanindranath Tagore's 'Slaying of the Enchanted Deer' and a Kaikeyi and Manthara scene by Nandalal Bose; reviewing it in Karmayogin (2 October 1909), Sri Aurobindo credited Chatterjee, editor of The Modern Review and Prabasi, with 'introducing the masterpieces of the new school of Art to his readers'; Nandalal Bose, black-on-white linocut of Gandhi walking with a staff, made in 1930 for the Dandi (Salt) March and Gandhi's arrest over the salt tax (National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi); Nandalal Bose and Kala Bhavana associates, Haripura panels for the 1938 Indian National Congress session at Haripura, Gujarat, commissioned by Gandhi: about 400 tempera panels painted on paper stretched on straw-board, of potters, tailors, drummers, washermen and mothers with children, from sketches made in nearby villages (National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; exhibited 2016); Illuminated Constitution of India (adopted 26 November 1949; the manuscript was signed on 24 January 1950): English text calligraphed by Prem Behari Narain Raizada with a No. 303 nib; pages illuminated in gold leaf and stone colours by Nandalal Bose and Kala Bhavana students, with the Preamble page by Beohar Rammanohar Sinha and the national emblem by Dinanath Bhargava; scenes run from Mohenjo-daro seals and the Ramayana to the Dandi March and the Himalayas; photolithographed at the Survey of India offices, Dehra Dun; Rabindranath Tagore, Sahaj Path, the Bengali primer illustrated with linocuts by Nandalal Bose (Visva-Bharati); Nandalal Bose, sketches for the emblems of the Bharat Ratna (instituted 2 January 1954) and Padma Shri awards, at Jawaharlal Nehru's request

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Arts & Crafts Movement](https://stylogeny.com/styles/arts-and-crafts.md) (1860–1920)
- Influenced by: [Kalighat Pat & Battala Bazaar Prints](https://stylogeny.com/styles/kalighat-battala.md) (1830–1930)
- Influenced by: [Ma & Wabi-sabi Aesthetics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/wabi-sabi.md) (1500–present)
- Alike in its design choices: [Đông Hồ & Hàng Trống Folk Prints](https://stylogeny.com/styles/dong-ho-folk-print.md) (1600–present), 71% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Chinese National-Style Animation (Shanghai Animation Film Studio)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/chinese-national-style-animation.md) (1956–1989), 71% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Cairo–Beirut Arab Modernist Book & Periodical Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/cairo-beirut-book-design.md) (1952–1990), 68% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Modern Calligraphy and Brush Lettering](https://stylogeny.com/styles/modern-calligraphy.md) (2005–present), 66% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Korean Commercial Calligraphy (Kaelligeurapi)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/korean-commercial-calligraphy.md) (1999–present), 65% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Senegalese Sufi Devotional Imagery (Souwère Glass Painting and Amadou Bamba Portraits)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/senegalese-sufi-imagery.md) (1900–present), 64% alike

## Sources

- Wikipedia, 'Bengal School of Art' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_School_of_Art)
- Wikipedia, 'Abanindranath Tagore' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abanindranath_Tagore)
- Wikipedia, 'Bharat Mata (painting)' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharat_Mata_(painting))
- DAG, 'Term of the Month: The Wash Technique' (https://dagworld.com/term-of-the-month-the-wash-technique.html)
- Wikipedia, 'Nandalal Bose' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandalal_Bose)
- Wikipedia, 'Kala Bhavana' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kala_Bhavana)
- Wikipedia, 'Santiniketan: The Making of a Contextual Modernism' (R. Siva Kumar, NGMA, 1997) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contextual_Modernism)
- National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, 'Rediscovering Haripura Panels: Nandalal Bose', Google Arts & Culture (https://artsandculture.google.com/story/rediscovering-haripura-panels-nandalal-bose-national-gallery-of-modern-art-ngma-new-delhi/AwXRNpSFHeWVJw)
- The Heritage Lab, 'Haripura Posters by Nandalal Bose' (https://www.theheritagelab.in/haripura-posters-nandalal-bose/)
- Wikisource, 'The Constitution of India (Original Calligraphed and Illuminated Version)' (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Constitution_of_India_(Original_Calligraphed_and_Illuminated_Version))
- Wikipedia, 'Prem Behari Narain Raizada' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prem_Behari_Narain_Raizada)
- Wikipedia, 'State Emblem of India' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Emblem_of_India)
- Wikipedia, 'Sahaj Path (book)' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahaj_Path_(book))
- Wikipedia, 'Alpana' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpana)
- Wikipedia, 'Bharat Mata' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharat_Mata)
- Wikipedia, 'Okakura Kakuzō' (The Book of Tea, 1906: Teaism 'a worship of the Imperfect') (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okakura_Kakuz%C5%8D)
- E. B. Havell, The Basis for Artistic and Industrial Revival in India (Madras: Theosophist Office, 1912), preface (https://architexturez.net/doc/az-cf-167401)
- Wikipedia, 'Ananda Coomaraswamy' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ananda_Coomaraswamy)
- Wikipedia, 'Broad Campden' (Norman Chapel House, renovated by C. R. Ashbee for Coomaraswamy; home of the Essex House Press from 1907) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad_Campden)
- University of Missouri Libraries, Fine Press Materials: Coomaraswamy, Mediæval Sinhalese Art, Essex House Press, 1908 (https://library.missouri.edu/specialcollections/exhibits/show/finepress/item/1768)
- Sri Aurobindo, 'Indian Art and an Old Classic', Karmayogin, 2 October 1909 (https://sri-aurobindo.co.in/workings/sa/03/0069_e.htm)
- Wikipedia, 'Constitution of India' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_India)
- Wikipedia, 'Bharat Ratna' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharat_Ratna)
- Wikipedia, 'Satyajit Ray' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyajit_Ray)

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Santiniketan & Bengal School Graphics”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/santiniketan-graphics/