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Jamini Roy
Accession No . 76
Artist Name. Jamini Roy
Title. Gopini
Medium. Tempera on cloth
Size. 27" x 21.25"
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This painting is an evocative image of a rural community. Jamini Roy has beautifully represented in many of his paintings the sect of the Vaishnavas, the followers of Krishna as either making offerings to the lord or on the way to a temple in a procession or going around villages singing kirtans (devotional songs) on the life of Krishna, and seeking alms. It is interesting to see how Roy broke down the figure to the essential form that goes into its making and then synthesised it to suggest a structure. Jamini Roy drew imagery that was authentic using simplification of form inspired by the folk arts of the region that had evolved over the centuries. In this painting the artist has adopted the tribhanga or the bent axis from the traditional iconography in the representation of the figure of Gopini or herd woman or milkmaid. The artist has adhered to the notions of ideal feminine beauty with the depiction of the doe eyes, demure stances and the voluptuous figure of the Gopini with a heightened pliancy in her figuration. There is a strong element of fantasy in the richly saturated palette that Roy has used particularly for the Krishna-Leela series of works. The artist conveys a sense of an idyll where faith, religion and spirituality create an organic wholeness in life.
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