Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)

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

Thence by descent

One unframed unmounted work on paper. Yellowing due to age is visible particularly around the edges. There is some foxing and stains, which are remnants of the previous mount. There is a small tear to the paper in the body of the bird along with paper accretions above the birds head and a blue drawing on the upper right corner, possibly inherent. There are some small creases to the paper.
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Rabindranath's distinctive bird like creatures first appear in doodles within his manuscript for Purabi. Purabi was a collection of poems that were conceived during a trip to South America to visit Victoria Ocampo, the Argentine writer and intellectual. Ocampo was to later organise Rabindranath's first public exhibition that was held in Paris in 1930. The imagery found in these early drawings are believed to have been derived from Primitive Art. Ratan Parimoo relates a number of Rabindranath's works from this period to the iconography found in primitive Haida painting and early Peruvian textiles (R. Parimoo, Art of Three Tagores, From Revival to Modernity, New Delhi, 2001, pp. 459-470).

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.