Jamini Roy

Not much is known about his personal life and marriage excepting for the fact that he was blessed with four sons and one daughter.

He breathed his last on April 24, 1972.

Though Jamini Roy has long been gone, his paintings even today speak of his illustrious career as the first generation painter, who gave up on modernity and conformed to the nostalgic lyricism of Bengali folk painters. His paintings are present in the private and public collections across the globe.

Jamini Roy was born on April 11, 1887, in an affluent family of zamindars in the Beliatore village in the Bankura district, of then undivided Bengal.

Rich in folk art tradition, the village played a dawning influence on the mind of this budding artist who found his true calling early in life.

In 1903, at the age of sixteen, he moved to Calcutta to jo the Government College of Art, where Abanindranath Tagore, the founder of Bengal school, served as the Vice Principal. in

Under Tagore’s guidance, he learned the basic nuances of fine arts. He adhered to the age-old academic tradition of the institution of learning to draw classical nudes and oil painting. Following five years of training, he received his Diploma in Fine Arts in 1908.

His initial career as a painter was deeply influenced by the Bengal school idiosyncrasy. He started off as a post-impressionist painter, painting landscapes and portraits but was highly displeased with his work as he found them to be dull, boring and uninspiring.

He took a de-tour from the then traditional route of budding artists, who generally brought to life the western customs on their canvas and looked to discovering his true passion and style.

It was while strolling through the streets of rural Bengal and passing through the popular bazaar paintings sold outside the Kalighat temple in Calcutta that he found his true calling. He found himself akin with this particular style of art that involved demonstrating Indian culture through dominant sweeping brush strokes.

Moving away from his earlier impressionist canvas, he was inspired by folk art and true Indian tradition. The move though rebellious, quenched his desire for painting and helped him get closer to his inner artistic impulses.

The period of 1930s marked the beginning of his glittering career as a painter, who abandoned the expensive canvas and instead switched to using indigenous materials and ordinary painting surfaces for his work which continued for the better part of the 1960s.

In 1934, he was felicitated with Viceroy's gold medal in an all-India exhibition for one of his work.

In 1954, he was conferred with India’s third highest civilian award, the prestigious Padma Bhushan by the Government of India.

Following year, he was made the first Fellow of the Lalit Kala Akademi, the highest honour in fine arts conferred by the Lalit Kala Akademi, India's National Academy of Art, Government of India.

The Archaeological Survey of India, Ministry of Culture, Government of India in 1976 declared his work amongst the ‘Nine Masters’ whose work was considered ‘art treasure’.