Page 125 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

122 ART AND CRAFTS

with the ‘Isis’ award. After the founding of the School of Industrial Art, Nabakumar
Pal was appointed teacher of modeling along with a Belgian artist. 51
The International Exhibition of Commerce and Art was held in 1951 and as a result
of its success there were many other exhibitions held in London, Paris, Amsterdam,
Melbourne etc. from the second half of the nineteenth century. Many sculptors of
Bengal gained fame by participating in these shows. They made naturalistic clay
models for these exhibitions. Ram Pal, Jadunath Pal, Rakhal Das Pal, Motilal Pal
and others gained special acclaim for the works done for these shows. Jadunath Pal
(1838-?) of Krishnanagar is the most famous amongst them for his work and his
long and colorful life.
He received an award in the second Calcutta Fine Art Exhibition the very next year
after his admission to the Calcutta Art School in 1873. Immediately upon completing
his education at the art school, he was appointed as teacher of modeling. However, he
resigned due to a disagreement with Principal Locke. In the meanwhile, his artworks
were exhibited and appreciated in many countries. During the principalship of Henry
Jobbins he was again appointed as teacher of the Art School. He was employed in
teaching during Principal E.B. Havell’s time, but due to a clash with Havell over a
sculpture of Maharshi Debendranath Tagore he again left the Art School. Jadunath Pal
returned to his home in Ghurni of Krishnanagar. Many eminent persons went to his
home to meet this talented and spirited sculptor. 52
In reality, Calcutta Art School was not founded to teach sculpture as a high art form.
Due to the crisis that England had faced in the field of art education after the Industrial
Revolution, the British government had established schools of industrial art in Britain
itself to overcome the crisis. In 1857 the Central School of Industrial Art had been
established in South Kensington. Henry Cole who directed the school accepted Indian
decorative art as the ideal of this school. 53
The Great Exhibition (The Industry of All Nations) was held in 1851 in London during
the period when the art schools were established in India. Henry Cole and Owen Jones
introduced the trend of reforming industrial design, the Arts and Crafts Movement of
William Morris gained momentum and different schools of design were established in
England. There was a clear difference between academies of art and schools of
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design and the stress was placed on schools of design to face the crisis that had
developed in industrial design. It was the intention of the design schools to impart
useful knowledge to artisans to improve the design of objects produced. The high
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standard of design of Indian products was discovered in the exhibition of 1851. The
attraction of British industrial designers for Indian design and the Arts and Crafts
Movement’s support for continued existence of Indian craftsmen, all of these made it
the responsibility of the British to preserve and develop the traditional arts under their
tutelage. That the art of India did not appear to be fine art in the western perspective
is clearly expressed in George Birdwood’s words, ‘Sculpture and painting are
unknown, as fine arts, in India.’ 56