Jamini Roy

The artist who has completed his birth centenary in 1987 and is about to reach his 150th year of birth within a span of less than one and half decade and whose art works are considered to be our national treasure and if he is none other than Jamini Roy, then he hardly needs any formal introduction. And we may direct our focus in pursuit of a quest, why Jamini Roy is still relevant to us?

Jamini Roy has founded his domain in his vision that aspires to be free forever. And where there is taste of freedom there is the realm of classic. The way Rabindranath determines a theory about short stories, ‘It seldom finishes even after it ends’, Similarly the pata(canvas) of Jamini Roy gains momentum and its vibrantly painted forms and its variegated hues ceaselessly resonate in front of our fascinated eye – such was his prowess in providing harmony through his pictorial expression. If, on one hand, his strokes enhance the elegance of faminity, on the other, they are expressive of virile agility. They render the spectator spellbound even after multiple visits. Those strokes compel them to ponder where lies the other worldly flavour in those ever known entities that provide the banality with a mysterious tenderness? And here, Jamini Roy went beyond his time and it is at this point, he is infallibly prepared to welcome perpetuality in guise of repetitiveness while weaving his lifelong experience and whatever he amassed during the course of his journey traversing all the fertile and barren terrains. It is here, the rhythm of popular tradition receives the accolade of modernity. Here lies the indomitable spirit of his lifelong artistic creation. Thus, along with the passage of time, as we grow older Jamini Roy comes to our closer proximity and we perceive abstraction through his forms and this abstraction further draws us back to form.

This exhibition is going to present a rich historical connection as it bears the essence of aesthetics that found place in intimacy amongst the creative milieu of the then Bengal intelligentsia. Today, the intellectual discourse between the poet Bishnu Dey and the artist Jamini Roy became something of a legend which may turn out to be a lesson to the decadent intellectual sphere of today. The gifts that the artist had given to the poet were preserved as priceless treasure by the poet’s family. Those invaluable gifts which are adorned with the wisdom of the artist’s entire life are now about to appear before the connoisseurs.