NADANLAL BOSE Born on December 3, 1882,the son of Puranchandra Bose and Kshetramani Devi, Nandlal had an innate inclination towards art. Therefore, after his preliminary school education, his parents consented to let him enroll at the College of Art, Calcutta in 1905. He was fortunate to receive the guidance from Abanindranath Tagore who, at that time, was the Vice-Principal. While studying in the College of Art, he won a scholarship, and in 1908 also a prize for his painting Sati Mounting the Pyre. Since then his artistic pursuits and success became companions, providing him respect, admiration and all sorts of worldly and spiritual honours.

He joined the team of Lady Herringham and assisted in making copies of Ajanta paintings in 1910-11; this brought him into close contact with the greatest masterpieces of Indian art. As soon as he finished his college education, the principal, Percy Brown, invited him to teach at the College of Art; instead he preferred to avail of the facilities to work at Jorasanko offered by Abanindranath Tagore where he came into contact with Ananda Coomaraswami, Sister Nivedita, Okakura and Rabindranath Tagore whose literary manifestations he enjoyed illustrating for years to came. at his insistence, Nandlal joined the Kala Bhavan, Shantiniketan in 1920, and remained its Principal until he retired in 1951.

He was nationalistic to the core and his mature art style constituted traditional, decorative, ornamental and narrative elements, improvised and visually manifested through the linear rhythm, movement, structure and form and, by and large, somber colours having typical orient flavour. He painted several mythological themes; initially some in the wash technique, to be followed by or simultaneously in tempra and , eventually, adopting or incorporating them in some of his large murals and frescoes. Gradually, his interest widened. Almost every aspect of nature and humble life around attracted him. The influence of Mahatma Gandhi also played an important role.

In 1935 he organised an exhibition at the Lucknow session of the Indian National Congress and decorated the Congress Pandals at Faizpur (1937) and Haripura (1937-38) sessions and also painted the famous Haripura Posters. His attitude towards his students was very kind and affectionate, advising them to rely on their own inclinations and follow their own path. He wrote several articles, which constitute the crux of his aesthetic theories, and several universities and art institutions awarded him honorary D. Litt. degrees, medals and fellowships. From the Government of India he received the Padma Vibhushan.

In substance, the vision of Nandlal Bose, who according to a rough estimate, created about ten thousand works of art- including paintings, water colours, drawings, surmise and graphics etc.- was cosmic, and he was completely devoted to his art. Thus, he was both a Silpi-Yogi and also a Karma-Yogi. He died on April 16, 1966.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India