Which artist learnt the Japanese painting technique from Yokohama Taikan and Hisenda ?

Question

Accepted Answer

The correct option is 3:
Avanindranath Tagore, the principal artist and founder of the Bengal School of Art, is the correct answer. The Japanese artists Yokohama Taikan and Hishida Shunso visited Calcutta in 1903, facilitated by the Japanese art historian Okakura Kakuzo. During their stay at the Tagore family residence, they introduced and demonstrated the Japanese *nihonga* painting method, particularly the *wash* technique, which was a significant departure from the prevailing European academic realism. Abanindranath Tagore keenly observed and assimilated this technique, adapting it to his own artistic vision and subsequently making it the defining style of the Bengal School, creating a new pan-Asian aesthetic for modern Indian art.

The incorrect option is 1:
N. S. Bendre (Narayan Shridhar Bendre) was a celebrated Indian modernist artist, but he belonged to a later generation of painters, primarily active in the mid-20th century. He was associated with the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group and is known for his post-Impressionistic and cubist-influenced work, rather than the early nationalistic art movement of the Bengal School. His art education and stylistic influences were rooted in Western and international modern art traditions, making it historically impossible for him to have received direct instruction from Taikan and Shunso in the early 1900s. Therefore, his artistic development does not involve personal tutelage from these specific Japanese masters.

The incorrect option is 2:
Asit Kumar Haldar was an extremely prominent figure of the Bengal School and one of the chief disciples of Abanindranath Tagore. While he became a master of the wash technique, he learned it directly from his *guru*, Abanindranath Tagore, who himself had absorbed the lessons from Taikan and Shunso. Haldar represents the second generation of artists of the Bengal School, who were taught the evolved Indian version of the wash technique by the master who pioneered it in India, not by the original Japanese visitors. His learning was mediated through the Bengal School's founder.

The incorrect option is 4:
Mukul Dey was another notable artist associated with the Bengal School, known for his work in drypoint etching and as a painter. He was also a direct student of Abanindranath Tagore, just like Asit Kumar Haldar. His formal art training and mastery of techniques, including the wash technique, came from the curriculum and mentorship of Abanindranath Tagore at the Indian Society of Oriental Art. As such, he, too, was a recipient of the technique through his teacher rather than learning it at the source from Yokohama Taikan and Hishida Shunso during their brief visit.