| Medium | : | Ink |
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A charming pen and ink drawing by Jamini Roy, featuring a stylized bird and fish in his signature folk-inspired style. Rendered on natural paper, the work reflects the artist’s mastery of line and form, capturing the essence of rural life with simplicity and elegance.
₹125,000.00
Jamini Roy | Pen & Ink on Paper | 2.9 x 3 inches
This is a Pen & Ink drawing on paper by Jamini Roy, an expressive devotional sketch executed in blue ink, showcasing his unmistakable folk-inspired style.
The composition features a central deity figure—likely Shiva, riding Nandi (his sacred bull), flanked by two attendants or divine figures, all enclosed within an arched temple-like frame. The sketch includes signature Roy elements: large almond-shaped eyes, flattened perspective, bold outlines, and repetitive patterns, which recall Bengal’s indigenous patachitra and Kalighat paintings.
Despite the informal medium and simplicity of execution, the drawing possesses a sense of narrative grandeur and spiritual gravity. The repetitive architectural motifs at the base echo temple platforms or altars, rooting the image in sacred iconography. This piece reflects Roy’s intent to bring religious and folk themes into the realm of accessible modern Indian art.
One of india’s most loved artists, Jamini Roy is remembered for forging a unique indian aesthetic for modern art by bringing together elements of traditional bengali folk art and kalighat patachitras, rendered in clean lines and earthy colours.
Born on 11 April 1887 in a landowning family in Bankura district of Bengal, Roy trained in European academic-realist painting at the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Calcutta, and began his career painting landscapes and portraits.
Soon, moving away from these, he started experimenting with a more indigenous visual vocabulary. Level surfaces, flattening of design in depth, and the use of dissonant primary colours were aspects of folk painting that Roy incorporated in his work. Also, he took up the volumetric forms of the Kalighat patachitras. However, unlike the spontaneous brushwork of the traditional patuas, Roy’s lines were more restrained and precisely delineated.
Roy would paint several versions of a subject, breaking and reforming the theme over months. Turning his family into a production unit, he tried to emulate a craft-guild mode of artistic production. He painted on a wide range of themes—common people, mythological tales, Christian iconography, as well as visual characteristics of home-sewn Bengal quilts and Byzantine icons.
Roy was awarded the Viceroy’s gold medal in 1935, the Padma Bhushan in 1955, and elected a fellow of the Lalit Kala Akademi in 1956. Declared a National Treasure artist in 1976, his works cannot be exported. He passed away on 24 April 1972.
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| Dimensions | 7.6 × 7.4 cm |
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| Style | Animals paintings, Figurative Drawings, Figurative Paintings |
