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A Heretic in Indian Art
Letters Ramkinker had great reverence for Tagore. He loved Tagore songs. Tagore’s initial encouragement was a turning point in his life. But, his real teacher of art in Shantiniketan was Nandalal Bose. Nandalal often differed with his disciple but he never acted as a barrier to Ramkinker’s non-conventional experiments in art. Ramkinker had to suffer financial hardship in his career as an artist. Immediately after coming to Shantiniketan he had to earn his livelihood by doing some book illustrations. He was forced to use cheap materials in many of his sculptures. Ramkinker had made many revolutions in his artistic career. He was the first artist in Shantiniketan who did painting and sculpture simultaneously. Moreover, he first started doing oil painting in Shantiniketan. The most revolutionary thing he did here was to use models in his paintings. His ‘mastarmosai’ (teacher), Nandalal Bose, was dead against using models. He did it clandestinely. While looking back to his past, Ramkinker stated with satisfaction that his models are still alive in many of his sketches, paintings and sculptures. Ramkinker had special fascination for capturing the rhythmic motions of toiling people in his art. His famous sculptures such as Santal Family amply bear this out. He used to take long walks into the neighbouring villages where he was at home among the santals. His free life gave a special dimension to his works of art. Ramkinker did not participate in active politics. In his pre-Shantiniketan days, he made some oil portraits of nationalist leaders during the non-cooperation movement. But, he believed in the social commitment of art in a broad sense. Shantiniketan was instrumental in the making of Ramkinker. But, we have come to know from reflections of his close associates that he witnessed many dirty things here, even among educated people. Ramkinker’s beloved student, late Shankho Choudhury, could not mentally accept that such a great artist had to suffer so many humiliations in his life because of lack of ‘Kaulinya’ (respectable background). One can get an idea of how Ramkinker could (Continued on p 5088) Inland (Rs) Six One Two Three months year years years Institutions – 1250 2300 3300 Individuals 500 935 1750 2500 Concessional Rates Teachers/Researchers – 685 – 1800 Students – 450 – – Concessional rates are available only in India. To avail of these rates, a certificate from the relevant institution is essential. Remittance by money order/bank draft preferred. Please add Rs 35 to outstation cheques towards bank collection charges. Institutions – 1500 – 4150 Individuals – 1250 – 3500 (US $) Air Mail Surface Mail Institutions 1yr 2yrs 3yrs 1yr 2yrs 3yrs Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh 80 150 200 65 120 175 Other countries 150 275 375 90 170 240 Individuals Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh 50 90 125 30 50 75 Other countries 100 175 240 65 120 170 All remittances to: Economic and Political Weekly Hitkari House, 284 Shahid Bhagatsingh Road,
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Director : S L Shetty Economic and Political Weekly December 9, 2006 withstand such traumas of everyday life from K G Subramanyan’s assessment: So in today’s world, where many artists are as sharp and astute as bankers and handle their work with great proprietorial sagacity, Kinkerbabu is a rare phenomenon indeed. He is probably one of the lone survivors of a lost tribe, the ‘Khepa’ Bauls or the mad mystics, an artist crazy with his art, lost so much in his search as to forget both his person and his product, not concerned in the least whether it brought him name or fame or success. At the beginning of the 21st century, we hope that some young painters and sculptors will carry forward Ramkinker’s heretical legacy against so many odds in the age of power and money-making. ARUP KUMAR SEN Kolkata The farmers of Singur, like those elsewhere, are victims of state-sponsored “development”. The Left Front’s political strategy in implementing its depeasantisation policy is also one of “dominance without hegemony”. A READER Kolkata Here are some guidelines fortake up to six to eight months from the address, day-time phone numbers andauthors who wish to make date of acceptance to appear in the email address. submissions to the journal. EPW. Every effort will, however, be made (The email address of writers in the Special to ensure early publication. Papers with Article, Commentary and Discussion immediate relevance for policy would be sections will be published at the end ofEPW welcomes original research papers considered for early publication. Please the article.) in any of the social sciences. note that this is a matter of editorial * Authors are requested to prepare their * Articles must be no more than 8,000 judgment. soft copy versions in text formats. PDF versions are not accepted by the EPW. Authors are encouraged to use UK Englishprocessed. EPW invites short contributions to the spellings (Writers using MS Word or this along with the submitted paper. poses challenges in processing. Readers of EPW are encouraged to send comments and suggestions (300-400 words) * Graphs and charts prepared in MS * All submissions will be acknowledged Office (Word/Excel) or equivalent software immediately on receipt with a reference on published articles to the Letters column. number. Quoting the reference numberare preferable to material prepared in All letters should have the writer’s full name in inquiries will help. jpeg or other formats. and postal address. * EPW posts all published articles on its web site and may reproduce them on CDs. * Every effort is taken to complete early processing of the papers we receive. Since we receive more than 35 articles Address for communication: EPW encourages researchers to comment every week and adequate time has to be Economic and Political Weekly, on Special Articles. Submissions should be provided for internal reading and external Hitkari House, 1,000 to 2,000 words. refereeing. It can take up to four 284 Shahid Bhagatsingh Road,
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