National Gallery of Modern Art-Parikraman

Nandalal Bose

A Sketch from Album No. 63 8643 Nandalal Bose Pen & Ink on postcard

Nandalal's exploration of the different ways of delineating a line allowed him to experiment in representation of lines in its varying forms adding rhythm, vigour and life to the form of the figures. The above postcard illustrates a seated figure of a woman separating husks from rice grains using a winnowing basket. The folds of the drapes, coiffure and the peculiar sitting position of the woman have been keenly observed by the artist in the sketch. Dinkar Kowshik in his article, 'Drawings and Sketches of Nandalal Bose', writes- "Nandalal's sketches in fact provide a moving record of a humble life and natural environment in which he lived. These are not in any way preliminary studies for his larger finished compositions in black and white or in colour. They are finished and self-contained in themselves like a Japanese 'Haiku'. Their spacing, their distribution of black and white, their linear or tonal accents and the signature all form a part of a single unit."