Page 123 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

120 ART AND CRAFTS

C. Colonial to Contemporary Period
Lala Rukh Selim

Sculpture is an essential element of the culture of the subcontinent. From the Indus
civilization to the present age, sculpture is a gradually evolving and integral part of
life. There was an international demand for the handicrafts of the subcontinent and due
to its enormous wealth, foreigners have arrived here throughout the ages. The art of
this region was enriched with the arrival and absorption of foreign elements. However,
the elements of art that came into India were assimilated and absorbed into the ideas
and local ways of life so that the ultimate form they took became essentially local, they
could not retain their original qualities. The slowly evolved essence or form of the art
of the subcontinent represents the life force of man and nature and the endless
processes of the universe. The human form in the sculpture of this region is brimming
with life force, charged with internal energy and rhythm of life and is a harmonious
combination of full forms.
From most ancient times the river ports of Bengal have worked as Indian’s links to the
west. Many cultures from many nations have left their imprint on Bengal, but Bengal
has absorbed it all. The last locus of Buddhism in India was in Bengal. The language
of art spread from Bengal with Buddhism to south and south east Asia. Perhaps the
school of classical or high sculpture ended with the Pala and Sena eras, but terracotta
sculpture has continued to exist in an almost unbroken flow from the very remote past
to the nineteenth century, even though traditional art forms were losing vitality due to
British influence. Yet, it was with the founding of the school of Industrial Art in 1854
in Kolkata that sculpture took a completely new turn. That is when upper class Bengalis
under the influence of the British gradually began to think of British art as superior and
the cultured Bengali considered naturalism as the greatest quality of sculpture.
Colonized by Britain, upper class Bengalis tried to please the British masters by
imbibing their tastes and aesthetics. They were absorbed in imitating the masters and
overwhelmed by the greatness of the imperialist British civilization. Traditional art
remained in rural life, in the practices of women in the inner chambers and in the
rooms of worship. The upper and middle class Bengalis tried to build their
residences along the Neoclassical style of the British, Victorian furniture decorated
the interiors, on their walls hung European paintings or their reproductions, they
donned European clothes, if needed. The superiority of the aggressor’s civilization
completely overpowered them. A conflicting relationship developed with their own
language, culture and lifestyle. During the end of the mediaeval period when the
patronization of traditional Indian art became weak, the artists went into the villages.
There was a scattered demand for artworks by zamindars, wealthy farmers, religious
and social institutions. At this turning point of Indian art, European merchants