Page 282 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

WOMEN ARTISTS 279

Nandalal Bose. Later on in Santiniketan she studied painting
supervised by Nandalal. There she also studied the technique of
oil painting under Andre Karpelles. Shanta Devi painted in the
Indian style but the subject she selected reflected her originality
(fig. 7.12). She played the esraj, wrote and stitched kantha
(quilted embroidery). Her paintings were exhibited and won
awards in Kolkata, Madras and Yangon. She was nearly ninety
years old when her paintings and other art pieces were exhibited
at the Birla Academy. 30
Shukumari Devi’s (?-1938) father was the zamindar of Borodia of
Chanpur-Comilla, Ramkumar Majumdar and her mother was
Anandamoyi Devi. Shukumari was widowed at the age of fourteen
and three years later she went to Santiniketan at the
encouragement of Kalimohan Ghose of Sriniketan. Because of her
skill in needlework and alpana Rabindranath directed Nandalal to
employ Shukumari as the teacher of needle art in Kala Bhavana.
Additionally, she also learnt to paint from Nandalal. Episodes from
the Puranas, gods and goddesses were the prime subject of her
paintings. Kamal Sarkar notes that her paintings executed in bright
colors and bold lines are slightly decorative. She was also highly
skilled in alpana and other crafts. 31
Prakriti Chattapadhyay (1895-1934) was the daughter of the artist Jaladhichandra fig. 7.12 (top) Shanta
Mukhapadhyay who was the grandson of Jatindramohan Tagore. She painted scenes Devi, Child with a Doll
from Krishnalila, Bhuddha’s life and the poetry and stories of Rabindranath Tagore in
watercolors. She was skilled in gesso painting, painting on silk, lacquer work and
enameling. Her embroidery and alpana were featured in publications. 32
Indurani Sinha (1905-?) was born in Kolkata. Her father was Akshay Kumar Mitra and
mother Rajlakshmi Devi. She was married to the artist Satishchandra Sinha in 1920 and
nearly sixteen years after that she began to practice art supervised by her husband. She
worked in oils, watercolor and pastels. She was adept in painting landscapes, village
people, and nude and draped figures. In 1941 she established a school of art for women. 33
Gouri Bhanj (1907-?), daughter of Nandalal Bose and Sudhira Devi learnt the arts
and crafts at the Kala Bhavana of Santiniketan. When Shukumari Devi, the teacher of
the Crafts department was taken ill and had to leave Santiniketan, Gouri Devi took
charge and taught at the department for nearly thirty five years. She was very expert
in alpana, needlework, batik, leatherwork and other crafts. Batik was introduced to
Kala Bhavana during her tenure and her contribution to the medium is considerable.
She played a leading role in the decoration on different occasions during
Rabindranath’s lifetime. 34
Indiradevi Raychowdhury (1910-1950) was the daughter of Srishachandra
Bhattacharya and Binodini Devi of the village Gopalpur of Tangail. She was