Page 279 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

276 ART AND CRAFTS

was to express their own hopes and philosophy of life that women entered the newly
opened world of art. Women are seen working in the recognized mainstream media
coming out of the area of what is termed the ‘minor arts’ in the history of western art.
The words of Germaine Greer are very significant in this respect. In her discussion of
women painters she says, ‘Even if it is not great female art, women’s art reveals much
that is of interest and concern both to the feminist and to the student of art, whether it
shows the impoverishment of the oppressed personality, the sterile archetypes of self-
censorship, the grimace of narcissistic introversion or the occasional flicker of
rebellion in its latent content, or all of these. What it does not and cannot show is the
decisive evidence of female creative power, for by far the greater proportion of that
was never expressed in painting, but in the so-called minor arts.’ What is also
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observed in women artists is the fact that they seem to devote themselves more to
artworks related to society and life rather than expressing themselves as individuals.
It is as if their social values direct them to think that art has to address life, it has to be
liberated from being products for the museum or the market. It is almost like their
devotion to the rites of brata of the most ancient matriarchal society where forces are
controlled for the good of society and the family. Woman has been more active in the
development of human society, not the self.
We know the names of a few women artists. Yet in most cases we hardly see works of
art to go with the artists. The reason is that women have created art as a hobby along
with her other family responsibilities. They were in most cases not solely devoted to
art. Thus, the number of work they produced was comparatively much less than that
of males. It is therefore difficult to form a clear view of their work. We may hear about
their work but there is very little scope of viewing their work. That is why the work
of women artists is mostly unknown, unrecognized, unanalyzed and unevaluated.
When woman proves her extraordinary qualities, her personality overwhelms her
work and becomes more important. Her work becomes only a facet of her personality.
All of this has to be considered when the works of women artists are evaluated, or else
the work of half the population of Bengal, and the world will be neglected. It is to be
noted that most women artists come from educated upper or middle class families. A
short discussion of some Bengali women artists prior to the partition follows.
Girindramohini Dasi (1858-1924) was born in Kolkata. Her father was Haranchandra
Mitra. She wrote poetry and painted. She was accomplished in painting divinities and
landscapes. Lady Minto, wife of the Viceroy saw one of her paintings and sent it to
Australia to a painting exhibition. Her paintings were reproduced in her own books of
poetry and in Bharati, Manashi and Marmabani journals. 20
Sucharu Devi (1874-1959) was the Maharani of Mayurbhanj. She was the third
daughter of Keshabchandra Sen and Jagonmohini Devi. She learnt oil painting from a
European woman teacher called Short. After her marriage to Maharaja Sriramchandra
Bhanj Deo she became more enthusiastic about art and gained experience about
western art in Europe. She was adept at painting landscapes in oil. In a collection of