Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)

Gifted by the artist to Mr. Anil Kumar Chanda and Mrs. Ranee Chanda

Thence by descent

One unframed and unmounted drawing on paper. The edges of the work are irregular and there are very small creases visible upon close inspection particularly to the top right and top left corners. There are scattered abrasions on surface of the paper.
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A similar treescape with palms is in the Kala Bhavan (acc. no. 387) dated 1936. 'I still remember the very moment, one afternoon, when coming back from school I alighted from the carriage and suddenly saw in the sky, behind the upper terrace of our house, an exuberance of deep, dark rain-clouds lavishing rich, cool shadows on the atmosphere. The marvel of it, the very generosity of its presence, gave me a joy which was freedom, the freedom we feel in the love of our dear friend.' (Rabindranath Tagore, The Religion of An Artist, 1933, p.16 ).

Anil Kumar Chanda and Ranee Chanda were both close associates of Rabindranath Tagore and lifelong adherents of his philosophy. Anil Kumar Chanda (1903-1976) first met Tagore whilst in London studying at the London School of Economics.  At Tagore’s request Chanda returned to India in 1930 to become his personal secretary as well as Professor at the Poet’s pioneering Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan. He later became Principal at Visva-Bharati University, a unique cultural institution renowned for its all encompassing world view and a back to nature approach. It was whilst at Santiniketan that Anil Kumar Chanda met his future wife Ranee Dey, (1913-1997). Tagore in a rare gesture officiated their wedding and the Chandas lived in a house within Tagore’s residential complex at Santiniketan.

Ranee Dey came from an eminent family of artists and was trained in the Bengal School style under the guidance of Abanindranath Tagore and Nandalal Bose.  Rabindranath Tagore brought Ranee Chanda, her sister, brothers and widowed mother to Santiniketan from Bangladesh after hearing of their father's demise. Tagore took the family into his care and it was through his guidance that Ranee Chanda and her siblings received their education and training in art and literature. Whilst at Santiniketan, she drew several portraits and sketches of Tagore and his family. Ranee Chanda went on to become the first woman artist to hold a solo exhibition in India and was an acclaimed writer in Bengali, winning the Rabindra Puraskar, the top literary honour in Bengali. Her writings chronicled her early days in Santiniketan, Tagore's reminiscences to her and Abanindranath Tagore's recollections. During the latter part of Rabindranath Tagore’s life, she accompanied the Poet to Calcutta, recording in a moving book his last days and the outpouring of grief following his death.

In the early 1950s,  Anil Kumar Chanda left Santiniketan for Delhi at the behest of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.  He joined Nehru’s cabinet where he held several portfolios, including foreign affairs.  In 1974 when he retired, he chose to return to Santiniketan spurning an offer to become Ambassador in London. Anil Kumar Chanda was actively involved in the affairs of the University at Santiniketan up until his death in 1976.  Ranee Chanda lived a more reclusive life spent entirely in Santiniketan, a place that was dearest to her heart.

This important group of paintings comes from a collection that represents the Chanda family’s lifelong dedication to Rabindranath Tagore and his teachings at Santiniketan. All the paintings in the collection were gifted to Anil Kumar Chanda, Ranee Chanda and their son Abhijit Chanda by Rabindranath Tagore, Abanindranath Tagore and Nandalal Bose, as well as a number of works by visiting artists from China, Japan and Indonesia. The paintings within the collection often included dedicatory inscriptions that indicated the recipient and the occasion on which they were bequeathed.