Untitled (Three Figures at Low Tide)

Nandalal Bose was a leader among artists of India’s early modern period who sought a new Indian art that shed all association with Western styles, materials, and subjects. A close associate of Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi, Nandalal Bose created a wide range of artworks that became the visual component of India’s independence movement. After India achieved independence from Britain in 1947, Nandalal illustrated India’s new constitution.

Near the end of his life he created daily sketches in Japanese ink on paper. His Pan-Asian style derived from his conviction that a divine spirit underlies all of nature. These ink sketches depict traditional mountain villages and members of fishing communities existing in harmony with nature, unencumbered by industrialization and Westernization.