History of Indian Modern Art

The Modern Art Movement in India began in the early 1900s. Unlike the west, Indian artists were encouraged to reconsider their own traditional antecedents. The arrival of western-style and modern techniques played a significant role in the development of the Native Art Movement famously known as the Bengal School of Art.

The genesis of Bengal art can also be equated with the birth of Indian nationalism. Abanindranath Tagore was the first significant artist to emerge out of the Bengal School of Art. He was a major exponent of indigenous values in Indian art and is said to have redefined the meaning of modernity. The great influence of the Swadeshi movement made artists like Rabindranath Tagore and Nandalal Bose reject the Western concept of naturalism as seen in Raja Ravi Varma’s artworks. Instead, they took inspiration from Indian mythology and religion. The simple Indian folk art of Jamini Roy and the bold post-impressionistic canvases of Amrita Shergill are significant forms of Indian Modern Art.

By the mid and late nineteenth century, Many Art schools were established like the Baroda School of Art, Progressive Art Group. These art schools tended to promote traditional Indian crafts, and academic and naturalist art.

The evolution of Modern Indian Art is about the vernacular and regional roots portrayed in different styles and forms.