Tagore's Kala Bhavan turns 100, celebrates a legacy that broke tradition

On a November afternoon, Shubho Debnath, a first-year student of Master of Fine Arts at Visva Bharati, and his mentor, Amiya Nimai Dhara, are busy fanning a large clay oven outside Kala Bhavan, the university’s fine art school at Santiniketan. A layer of broken terracotta blocks on the top shields the sparks emanating from the smouldering coal inside. What looks like barbecue from the outside is a part of the long process involved in making shellac dolls, a dying folk art from West Bengal. Only a handful of families in West Bengal’s East Medinipore district are today engaged in the profession that involves creating clay dolls, baking them in handmade kilns and drawing intricate designs on them out of molten shellac.

Dhara and Debnath are preparing the dolls for an exhibition to mark 100 years of Kala Bhavan on November 29. 

Founded by Rabindranath Tagore in 1919, Kala Bhavan went on to become a platform for numerous art movements. Upon Tagore’s invitation, Nandalal Bose, more popularly known as “Master Moshai” at Visva Bharati, became the first principal of the institution. As a child, Bose would spend hours watching rural artisans making clay toys. At the centenary celebrations of Kala Bhavan, the legacy of Bose is being revived by recognising the works of rural artisans of Bengal, many of whom have come especially for the festivities.

The hundred-year-old Kala Bhavan | Photo: Subrata Majumder

Kanchan Ray, an expert artist of Chhau masks, a traditional art of Purulia district, has come to Kala Bhavan to teach students the art of Chhau. While the masks will be exhibited during the celebrations, students will also perform Chhau dance wearing the masks as a part of the cultural events.

Kala Bhavan was the first art school with a modernist approach to be established outside the colonial system of art education.

As it completes 100 years, the institute is celebrating this break of tradition from the colonial education system in multifarious forms. While it has invited several luminaries from the world of arts, there is no mention of any chief guest on the invitation card. Instead, the institution has chosen to felicitate octogenarian and nonagenarian alumni from Kala Bhavan. “We don’t have any chief guest for the occasion. We have invited students who are 80 and above for special felicitation,” says Gautam Das, Kala Bhavan principal.

An artist making masks for Chhau dance performers | Photo: Subrata Majumder

In the pre-Independence era, artists such as Nandalal Bose, Benode Behari Mukherjee and Ramkinkar Baij gave a distinct identity to Kala Bhavan by responding to social issues through their art. In the post-Independence era, artists like Dinkar Kowshik, Somnath Hore, Sarbari Roy Choudhury, Sanat Kar, K G Subramanyan and Jogen Chowdhury kept the tradition of freedom in artistic expressions alive as they experiment with newer themes.

The celebrations that begin on November 29 will continue till December 3, which is Bose’s birth anniversary. Adjacent to Bose’s studio at Visva Bharti, a centenary stall will be set up in his honour.

Kala Bhavan’s centenary year coincides with 100 years of Sangit Bhavana, the school of music at Visva Bharati. So, the centenary procession that will be taken out from Kala Bhavan the day the festivities kick off will also include students and faculty from Sangit Bhavana. Nearly 1,000 students and faculty members from both the schools are expected to participate in the procession.

The entrance to Sangit Bhavana | Photo: Subrata Majumder

One of the highlights of the celebrations is an exhibition of rare collections at the Kala Bhavan Museum. These will include rarely seen works of Bose, Tagore, Chowdhury, Kowshik, Subramanyam, Mukherjee as well as Abanindranath Tagore.

Also likely to be on display is the work of legendary Chinese artist Xu Beihong, who worked under Rabindranath Tagore from 1939 to 1940. In April this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had presented prints of paintings by Beihong to Chinese President Xi Jinping. These prints were made by Kala Bhavan on request from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

While the tradition of free thinking in art continues at Kala Bhavan, principal Das says the advent of digital age, and particularly mobile phones, has to some extent hampered students’ creativity. Every year, Kala Bhavan gets close to 2,000 applications for its four-year bachelorette course. The institute accepts close to 50 applications, including about eight foreign students. For the 455 students currently enrolled at Kala Bhavan, the centenary year is a reminder of all that the institute stands for.

Gautam Das, Principal, Kala Bhavan