A Few Thoughts on a Couple of "Bisarjan" Paintings

Disclaimer: I have never been and never will be an art critic. These are just some thoughts I had.

Also, this post has stewed in my head for about a month because procrastination.

Some time ago, around the end of Durga Pujo, someone in my timeline shared this 1882 painting by George Gidley Palmer depicting the immersion of a Durga Idol in the river:


And seeing it made me think of another famous 'Bisarjan' painting by Gaganendranath Tagore:


And then I found another one by Tagore too, on the same subject:



And while I lack the terminology or study to properly express this, had I not known anything about these paintings and had to pick which of these had been made by a Western artist and which ones by an Indian, especially by a Bengalee artist, I would have picked correctly. 

Palmer's painting has sharper lines, I think, but the overall impression for me is that of Marlow staring into the heart of darkness, at something essentially alien. It's a lovely painting, but to me, it doesn't feel very Indian. 

Tagore's paintings on the other hand are suffused by warmer colours, capturing the life and emotions that come with Bengal's biggest festival. The style makes me think of French impressionism (again, not an art critic) a little, but with a distinct Indian sensibility, and conveys the heady feeling of celebration and farewell and of the community coming together.

An outsider's perspective and an insider's. 

These paintings led to a Whatsapp conversation with friends about Gaganendranath Tagore and his range as an artist– he experimented with cubism for instance–and we marveled about how versatile and yet underrated he was. Perhaps it was something to do with coming from a family of stalwarts. Anyway, I shall just leave some paintings by him below:

(Meeting on the Steps)  

(The Temple.)

The second one is a fascinating use of cubist techniques. And the first one, in its stunning use of black and white tones evokes such a sense of secrets and of confidences shared.











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