Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) pays tribute to the pioneering artist Jamini Roy on his 133rd Birth Anniversary year through virtual tour.
This virtual tour of Jamini Roy (http://www.ngmaindia.gov.in/virtual-tour-of-modern-art-1.asp) has been represented in nine segments (Bird & Beast, Calligraphy & Sketches, Epic Myth & Folk Cults, Krishna Leela, Life of Christ, Mother & Child, Portrait & Landscapes, Santhals, Village life & Women) showing the variations of mood in his creation, showing 203 out of 215 art works from the permanent collection of NGMA.
Due to the threat posed by the novel Coronavirus, which has been declared a pandemic by the WHO, and following the advice of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, the Museum and Library is closed for public access till further order.
Director General, NGMA, Adwaita Gadanayak, said, “It is our endeavour to pay tribute to Jamini Roy – the pioneering artist of this country. Therefore, on his 133rd Birth Anniversary year (11.04.1887 – 24.04.1972), NGMA presents the life and art works of Jamini Roy through this Virtual Tour for the visitors to enjoy without even physically coming down to the location these days. I hope visitors would certainly be enjoying the colorful journey through these artworks. There will be many more landmark virtual tours launched on our site in the coming days.” This is its second biggest attempt of creating such Virtual Tour, conceptualized, designed and developed by the IT Cell of NGMA, according to a PIB release.
Jamini Roy was one of the earliest and most significant modernists of twentieth century Indian art. From 1920 onwards his search for the essence of form led him to experiment with dramatically different visual style. His career spanning over nearly six decades had many significant turning points and his works collectively speak of the nature of his modernism and the prominent role he played in breaking away from the art practices of his time. Trained in the British academic style of painting in the early decades of the twentieth century, Jamini Roy became well-known as a skilful portraitist.
From the end 1920s, Jamini Roy rejected the European oil medium and began to use the traditional pigments from vegetable and mineral sources. The imagery was often drawn from village life. He invested in the portrayal of peasants, artisans, followers of religious cults, village women and adivasis with immense dignity. He represented in his paintings what they held sacred with references from folk tales and narratives that permeated the rural consciousness. From 1924 onwards, he experimented with a new idiom as he was looking for ways to simplify form.