The main objective of this discussion is how Abanindranath Thakur became a world famous painter and remained focused on Katum-Kutum (Kutum-Katam in his own words) in the last phase of his life.

Abanindranath Tagore heralded the beginning of a new era in the world of Indian painting. If we look at his life, it is possible to feel the aesthetics of his artwork and his creations, whether be it his writings or his paintings. His creations such as Kheerer Putul, Buro Angla, Nalak, Rajkahini are imbued with sense of humour in life, and his unrelenting efforts to create a connection between art and Swadeshi sentiments have contributed in the creation of his art. He had mastered the liberal art style of the West and had presented the idea of painting in a completely new form imbued with Eastern ideals. Abanindranath’s pictures have the imaginative mind of a writer and his prose writings reflect the imagination of a painter. Abanindranath himself, a man of this rare talent, used to say that, ‘Tini chhobi ankenna, chhobi lekhen.’ (He ‘writes art’ and ‘paints words’). Because of this philosophy, each of Abanindranath’s paintings had become a story. Both his writings and pictures are very lifelike and dynamic. Sometimes at the ‘pull of brush’ sometimes with the ‘scratch of the pen’ he had painted throughout his life. According to eminent art critic Asoke Mitra, ‘‘It would have been difficult for Abanindranath to become a painter without his extraordinary literary talent’’. However, not agreeing with Asoke Mitra, it can be said that his world of painting and literary endeavours are complementary to each other. It should be noted that according to some scholars, as a writer he was less appreciated when compared to the painter Abanindranath, but that is a different matter. 

Abanindranath was born on August 7, 1871, possessing such rare talent as ‘writing pictures’ and ‘drawing stories’. One hundred and fifty years of his birth have passed. In this long time there have been many multi-dimensional changes in Western art thinking and art practices. Abanindranath, the ultimate patron of Oriental art and inspired by the ideals of Swadeshi ideology, was the founder of the Bengal school of art movement and even after so many years he remains relevant.  

In Abanindranath’s time, the freedom movement of India began openly. He had realised the importance of the Indian artist in the exchange of Eastern and European ideas. As a modern artist Abanindranath had realised that the painting of Ajanta and the traditional art culture of Rajput, Mughal and Persian rule did not solely represent the entire impression of Indian art. Instead of that, he had felt the importance of native folk art, indigenous rituals, customs, religions, and pujas and considered them as the subjects of his paintings. For these various reasons, he invented his own style of painting or art form by emphasizing the modern European technique and indigenous subjects.

This man of rare talent was born in ‘Jorasanko Thakur Bari’ (the famous Tagore household of Calcutta), from where the Prince Dwarakanath Tagore, the great social reformer Devendranath Tagore, eminent scholar Dwijendranath Tagore, first Indian ICS Satyendranath Tagore, famous poet and playwright Jyotirindranath Tagore, above all the great poet and first Asian Nobel laureate (literature) ‘Kobiguru’ Rabindranath Tagore belonged. He was the third child of Gunendranath and Soudamini Devi. Gunendranath, who was Devendranath’s brother Girindranath Tagore’s son. The name of the wife of Abanindranath was Suhasini Devi. Abanindranath and Suhasini had four daughters and three sons. His eldest son Gaganendranath was also a prominent painter. His elder brother Samarendranath was also an artist and intellectual. Abanindranath was the inheritor of many qualities by birth because of the artistic and literary atmosphere of the family. In his own words he said that, “Swadeshi yuge bhabte shikhe chhilum, desher jonyo nijaswo kichhu dite hobe, sei bhabti fute ber holo amar chhobir jagote. Tokhon bajna kori, chhobio anki – ganbajnata amar vitore chhilo na, seta gelo – chhobita roilo.’’ (I have learned to think during the Swadeshi period, and I realised that I must contribute something of my own for the country, that feeling came out in the world of my paintings. Then I used to play musical instrument and painting also. I realised that I was not into music, so that did not happen – however the paintings remained).

First Padma Dasi (maid servant), then servant Sri Ramlal Kundu alias ‘Amlal Kundu’ took charge of him. He was too young then and he even did not know how old his new master (Abanindranath) was. However, Ramlal was determined that, ‘‘Bujhiye-sujhiye mere dhore, e-barir adob kayda-dorosto  ekjon keo kore tulbei tanke.” (To nurture him and to make him a person who conforms to the customs of this house). However, after the arrival of Ramlal, he was released from the strict rule of household. 

Abanindranath, a solitary boy from an elite sophisticated family background, learned to see and hear through many practical experiences. On the outer wall of the house where the cornice is shadowed, where the house lizards wait in anticipation of insects, where the sparrows are making their nests in the niche, where the ‘kingly eagle’ (Chil Maharaj) is sitting on an iron peg high up on the roof – his eyes observed such many things. Again; the sound of the hawker selling dishes, the sound of the tub in the well, the call of a strange bird accompanied him all through the day. The habit of listening to these things accompanied him till the end of his life.  In his words, “Ghorer vitor bose bose chhobi dekhi.” (I used to sit inside the room and watch the play of light and shadow on the wall). Naturally a person inclined to such sentiments became one of the most eminent painters in course of time.  

Abanindranath started painting when he was studying in ‘Normal School’ in Calcutta (Kolkata). There, drawing teacher Satkari Babu used to draw a big traditional pot and a glass on thick paper and used to hang it on the black board. Boys were supposed to see and draw. Later he took painting lessons from two foreign teachers at an early age.

From the English artist C. L. Palmer, he learned drawing, and the methods of perspective or far-near ratio between objects, etc. Again, he brought home English human models to learn live study under Palmer’s supervision. He said that, “Tar kachhe jai… manush ankete shikhi ” (I went to him and learned to draw human body structure). Despite his training under European artists, as a result he became self-sufficient and self –reliant to start painting himself. 

He learned pastel work from Italian artist Olindo Gilardi (Vice Principal of Art School). Especially he learned from Gilardi the art of applying ‘colour tones and tonality’ in his paintings like as oil paints in the manner of European painters in pastel colours. As a result of this he was the only Indian artist who was able to bring out the effect of ‘Venetian Colour’ in pictures with the help of pastels or crayons. Due to his meticulous knowledge of traditional drawing and the use of colour, he eventually became an accomplished artist in the European style of portraiture. Apart from this, he learned to use oils and watercolours from Palmer, the English teacher. Later, he became interested in Japanese painting and studied under Japanese artists Yokoyama Taikan and Hishida Sunso, which will be discussed later. 

 He had a penchant for drawing since childhood. However, he started painting with his mind and heart after his marriage. His ‘Mejoma’ that is his aunt Gnanadanandini Devi arranged for him to learn painting traditionally. He got married in 1888, his daughter was born in 1892, and at that time one day it occurred to him to illustrate the book ‘Swapno-Prayan’… and he illustrated the most part of ‘Swapno-Prayan’ within very short time period. He chose the north side room and arranged the studio at home. Fixed the north light, south light and drew the curtains on the windows, doors, and skylights. He made a proper art studio. ‘Rabika’ (Rabindranath Tagore) greatly encouraged him in this endeavour. Chitrangada (written by Rabindranath Tagore) was then just written (finished at 1891, illustrated by Abanindranath and published on 13/09/1892). Rabindranath had announced to him that, ‘Paintings must be given.’ At that time all the pictures of Chitrangada were his hand painted and traced. This was his first collaboration with Rabindranath. Since then, they corresponded many times in the field of art and he inspired a lot by Rabindranath.  

Although historians differ on the Bengal renaissance of the 19^th century, there is no doubt in admitting that the role of the Bengal school in the Indian art movement is undeniable. These stylistic influences took shape the context of Swadeshi movement which has started with Abanindranath’s Bengal School.The first thing that comes to mind is the shift or change of his art from the perspective of foreign painting to ‘Indian-ness’.

This thought especially worked in the mind of Abanindranath during the era of ‘Swadeshi movement’ in colonised India. He thought paintings should be portrayed in the native way and they should represent the native sensibility of the nation. The artist Ravi Varma also painted pictures, but that picture could not overcome the foreignness. Ravi Barma’s painting of Sita who stands in the pose of goddess Venus is an example of the same foreignness. “Here is where I would bring the change”, he had said. He left painting foreign portraits, and started painting Pata and Patua art. He studied all kinds of patas. He started drawing indigenous pictures and it went on. The veil of foreign artistry was removed and various folk tales, stories of  Bengali  palaparvan, patachitra, rural alpana gradually started to emerge in his works. He learned the work of goldsmiths from native artisans. This was the method through which modern folk materials were re-worked behind the Bengal school of artistry. And Rabindranath himself also worked behind the scenes of this wonderful representation of native art reflected in Abanindranath’s art consciousness, art-thought. In this period, Abanindranath got exposed to some examples of Irish Illumination and Mughal miniatures. In his words, “The picture of that Irish melody and the design of the Delhi Indrasabha opened my eyes. On one hand I had the old European painting style and on the other hand the examples of old painting style of my country. 

 At this time, on the advice of his Rabika i.e., Rabindranath, he started painting after reading the Vaishnava Padabali. He started working to restore the traditional Indian style of painting. After reading of GovindaDas’s Padabali he painted Suklavisar. His painting Shuklavisar  was the first indigenous painting in that sense.  He said that now he had got the idea of Indian art and his purpose, the question is what will he draw now? “Rabikaka told me to read Vaishnava Padavali and draw pictures. Rabikaka told me so far that Chandidas, Vidyapati’s poetry should be shaped in painting. I started to read those poems. The first picture I made was a two-line poem by Govindas in the Indian style” —

Pokholi rajani paban bahe mondo

Choudishe himobar himo koru bondo. 

This indigenous type of picture was his version of Shuklavisar. But he himself was not satisfied with it. In his words, “But this was not our desi Radhika, she is as if a Memsaheb, a British lady who has been left in a winter night wearing a saree.” Afterwards, he then became interested in indigenous techniques or methods of education. 

The eminent art critic Ananda Kumaraswami observed the imperfections of Abanindranath’s early period paintings. English artist and art-critic Roger Fry notes that Abanindranath’s early paintings showed heavy foreign art influences and lack a proper indigenous feel. The imperfection that Kumaraswami and Fry speak of was not permanent in the life of a top graded artist like Abanindranath. The sense that blind adherence to European conventions was not applicable to Indian painting was first seen in Abanindranath’s paintings. It should also be noted here that under the inspiration and in the company of E.B. Havel, Rothenstein, and Sister Nivedita, Abanindranath first ‘became an Orientalist’ – according to Asoke Mitra. 

Even before these happenings, Abanindranath received a manuscript relating to Radhakrishna and based on this manuscript he painted several pictures of Radhakrishna. On the one hand the experience of painting and etching by pen and on the other hand, European style drawing, pastel colour-oil colour-water colours have had a profound effect of fusion of two styles in Abanindranath’s paintings and from the very beginning a mixture or synthesis of multiple styles can be observed in his artwork. He painted a lot of pictures in the native style according to his own native sensibility. He then studied the Japanese style under the guidance of the sage Okakura and the Japanese artist Taikan, Hishida Sunso. In this style he mastered the technique of moderate and nominal use of brush work and colours. Taikan used to teach line drawing, how to draw lines slowly. “We learned from him how slowly they draw a line. From me also he learnt various techniques of Mughal paintings... This is evident in several of his artwork including his paintings like ‘Kach o Devyani’.” 

Abanindranath’s ‘Bharatmata’ (1905) is priceless painting in all time. He included themes from Hindu mythology, history, and Indian rural life. His work is interpreted through a nationalist lens. This is perhaps most evident in his painting Bharatmata, which personified India as a divine Hindu deity and went on to become an enduring symbol of the nation and struggle for independence.  He introduced the watercolour wash technique in his own style in his paintings. His method of painting in watercolours was as follows: he usually painted on very high-quality British cartridge paper. The paper was placed loosely on the wood. Then he would put colour on top of the picture layer after layer. Sometimes he would pick up the paper and wet the wood underneath with a wet cloth. As a result, the colour of the image emerged as very strong colour. After colouring the picture in this way, he would wash it by draning water from the top with a coarse cotton swab, sometimes quickly submerging the entire picture in the water by hand. This method of painting was completely unique to his style. 

In the paintings of his later age, the countenances of the face, the presence of the limbs were all portrait-like. The images created by the mixture of dreams, reality and fantasy are identified in the illustrations of his Arabic novels. Abanindranath himself might be Alibaba, Gaganendranath might be Kashem, Rabindranath might be Harun al Rashid, some woman of Tagore family might be Morjina etc. 

His various whims of the minds about signature can be found in his paintings. He used to write a small name in one corner of the pictures that he liked very much. And those pictures which were carelessly drawn and not pleasing to him would be given as gift to someone by writing ‘A-ba-nin-dra’ in big letters and calling them ‘Nyao’ (take). Such was the nature of Rabindranath’s beloved nephew Abanindranath. 

He excelled in portraiture and landscape painting, two significant fields of Indian art, and his contributions are timeless. His excellent portraits are mainly works of pastel. Like the portrait of his beloved Rabika is in pastel. That pastel portrait of Rabindranath is a rare find for art connoisseurs. He also painted many portraits using water colours. Now let us talk about his natural scenes. He had brought a wonderful ‘local feeling’ in painting the village with the rivers, trees, and boats of East Bengal (now Bangladesh). He used to fill the pictures with wonderful light by using bright colours like brown. He would splash the brown colour over the grey to make it more appealing. Sometimes he would change the mood of the picture by drawing a red kite in the sky. 

At the request of Satyendranath Tagore’s wife and Abanindranath’s ‘Mejoma’ (aunt) Gnanadanandini Devi and at the encouragement of Havel, he joined the Calcutta School of Art in 1905 at the age of  34 as Vice Principal. He was the first Indian to achieve this honour. 

During this time, he painted his picture ‘Shahjahaner Mrityu’ (death of Shahjahan). A few days ago, he was mourning the death of his daughter, and he poured all that grief in this painting. The  painting has been so good for a reason! “I poured all the pain of my daughter’s death that was inside my chest and drew that picture.” The silver medal brought by this picture  from the Delhi Durbar was later decorated with the title of  Bageswari  Professor at the  request of  Sir Ashutosh  Mukherjee. After Rabindranath’s death, Abanindranath also held the post of Acharya of Visva Bharati from 1942-1945 as per his last wish. Then he returned to the house  called Guptanivas in Calcutta where he passed away at the age of eighty on 5^th December 1951. 

In the last phase of his life Abanindranath focused on making a beautiful new form of visual expression by creating sculptures from unwanted wood pieces, discarded dry tree brunches and roots, seeds of fruits, drift wood, and leftover.  In 1930-31, when he was about to sixty or sixty-one years old, when he no longer painted as much as he used to do before. Sitting on the couch in the Dakshiner Verandah of Jorasanko, he made Katum-Kutum all day long. He called first this work Kutum-Katam which later became popular as Katum-Kutum, uprooted tree trunks were converted by his artistic hand into tangible wooden sculptures of different types of human figures, animals and others works of art. According to him Kutum means in Bengali term relative and Katam is form of structure. So his creations in a sense are his relatives and they are very sensitive individuals. They do not like to be painted or even varnished in colour. They must be presented in their original colour and form as this makes nature most happy. He used his knowledge of art experiences and imaginations to create new objects of aesthetic value from discarded things like those above said materials, here by harmonising art of nature. 

The great artist Abanindranath staring mesmerised insect biting brunch of a tree, or the seed of a ripe fruit, possibly visualising the art form hidden in that discarded part. He appeared to talk to those brunches, pieces of bamboo, seeds and infuse life into them by converting them into a piece of sculptures. He had wrapped a curved brunch with cloth, given her a face with a seed, tie coloured threads around her waist, dress her up with a nose ring and bangles, put ghomta (veil) on her head and turned into a Santhal girl. 

He calls Kutum any scraps of wood, dry broken branches, lumps, whatever he picked up, and in which he found some form of familiarity. Those which are not the complete form, but only the model, were called Katum. Without adding or subtracting anything to this Katum, or by cutting off the extra parts, or even by joining when nothing happened, imagining something completely new, sometimes wearing a little red cloth ‘dress’, a princess, or raising a sail with white rags, made a sailing boat. Katum Kutum is an abstract form of art and the artist of this art-form was none other than the author of Buro Angla, Abin Thakur (Abanindranath himself). In his imagination the forms of Katum Kutum became a princess, girl Heeramani, Bhairavi, dancing Ganesha, Dimburo (by eggshell) or Ramchagol. This was also one aspect of Abanindranath’s genius. 

It would conclude that Abanindranath’s mind and work type never lost its sense of whimsies in life. In this case it would be wrong to take his Katum-Kutum work lightly, just as it would be wrong to treat his Rabika i.e. Rabindranath’s artwork as secondary among his vast creations. Because of anything – no matter how small it is – if an artist wants to bring out the true form rather than the reality, then it is also the artist’s job to bring out the form that is hidden in the formation of wood fibres, barks of tree or small brunches in the work of Katum-Kutum. Because for an artist no job is bad enough or no job is low enough seen in this way, one can understand why he would neglect seemingly important or apparently very important tasks in his precious life and indulge or focused on Katum-Kutum.

Abanindranath not only became a great artist in his long life. He has prepared the field for future Indian artists. In the late 19th century Indian painting almost perished due to the blind following of European art-form, Abanindranath single-handedly saved it an nursed it back to life. Borrowing unstintingly form European style, he repaid that debt by creating totally new art form of his own genius, and established in Indian painting in a new status in the world. His greatest merit is that he was a great teacher. He gave freedom to all of his students, gave them a chance to grow in their own way like him. According to his students, he did not try to impose his opinion on them, but he helped them in the development of their personality. He never expected his students to imitate him; rather he would get angry if they did. Never belittles anyone’s talent. So, without him, his paintings and Katum Kutum it is doubtful whether Indian art thinking would have been successful in the modern era.

Primary Sources:
1. Abanindranath Tagore, Apan Katha, Ananda Publishers Pvt. Ltd., seventh edition : June 2012 (first edition : January 1988).
2. Abanindranath Tagore, Rani Chanda, Jorasankor Dhare, Visva Bharati Granthanbibhag, Edition : Agrahayana 1378/1893 Shak.
3. Abanindranath Tagore, Bageshwari Shilpa Prabandhabali, Rupa, Fourth ‘Rupa’ Edition: Sravana 1395/ August 1988.
Secondary Sources:
1. Anirban Roy, Abanindranath, Papyrus, published : December 1998.
2. Asoke Mitra, Bharater Chitrakala (Vol. II), Ananda Publishers Pvt. Ltd., Seventh Edition : April 2017, first published : 1956.
3. Mohanlal Gangopadhyay, Dakshiner Baranda, Visva Bharati Granthanbibhag, Falgun : 1414.
4. Sameer Sengupta, Rabindranather Atmiyoswajon, Sahitya Sangsad, First Published: January 2005.
Journal's
1. Abanindra Janmotsava (60th), Avanindra Janmotsava Samiti, 1363 Bhadra 13 to 17.