National Gallery of Modern Art-Parikraman

Nandalal Bose

A Sketch from Album No. 73 8898 Nandalal Bose Pen & ink on canvas

Nandalal is known to have fervently sketched on postcard sized papers mostly using ink and brush, recording his surroundings. His small sketches vastly vary in detailing, some drawn quickly with just a few lines, others executed with more elaborate characteristics from an analytical perspective. The above postcard is one fine example which showcases Nandalal's explicit draftsmanship and his deft handling of the lines capturing the rhythm of the form, the sentiments and the benign nature of the cow feeding its young calf in bamboo shed. His smaller sketches are testimony of Nandalal's keenness to observe and his empathy for the environment in which he lived. Dinkar Kowshik in his article, 'Drawings and Sketches of Nandalal Bose', has written- "Nandalal's drawings are vast in number and varied in technical interest.He was indefatigable in his search for form and to the end of his life he remained a student. Whatever he saw, and wherever he went he recorded the flora and fauna, the people of the place, their dress, their carriages, the head-dresses, the landscape, the festivals, the architecture, and while doing that he went on attaining a felicity of expression."