RABINDRANATH TAGORE

BEGINNINGS

He was born in Jurasanko, Calcutta. He was the 14th child of Devendranath Tagore,the father,and Sarada Devi, the mother. 1869 Rabindranath tried his first attempt to write verse and was profoundly impressed by the Bengali translation of Bernadin de saint-Pierr`s Paul et Virginie. 1875 He recited a patriotic poem at a Hindu fair; lost his mother; took part in literary functions, composed a poem and a song and contributed serially his long narrative poem Banaphul (The Wild Flower); and left St. Xaviers school. 1882 Along with Jyotirindranath he established Sarasvat Samaj, the precursor of the Academy of Bengali Letters. 1886 Got entangled in controversies over socio-religious subjects; composed and sang the inaugural song for the second session of the Indian National Congress. In 1890 he filled a whole copy book with sketches. 1891 For the first time he wrote short stories. 1894 Rabindranath wrote poems, read papers and collected folk-rhymes and nursery songs to draw public atte

EDUCATION

1866 Rabindradranath started learning basic alphabets along with his brothers. 1868 He was admitted to the Oriental Seminary and subsequently to normal school. 1870 Started learning drawing and music along with other subjects and practiced wrestling and gymnastics. 1871 Was admitted to the Bengal Academy, an Anglo-Indian School. 1878 Went to Ahmedabad to study English. In the same he went to School at Brighton. 1879 Went to England and was admitted to University College.

EXHIBITIONS

1930 May-Dec., First traveling exhibition, Gaierie Pigalle, Paris. June, City Art Gallery, Birmingham, U.K. June, India Society, London, U.K. July, Moeller`s Gallery, Berlin, Germany. July, Art Club of Saxony, Dresden, Germany. July, Gallery Caspari, Munich, Germany. August, Charlottenburg Picture Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark. August, Geneva, Switzerland. September, State Moscow Museum of New Western Art, U.S.S.R. October, Doll and Richards Gallery Boston, U.S.A.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, U.S.A. December, Fifty-sixth Street Galleries, NewYork, U.S.A. 1931 Exhb. at the Newman Galleries, Philadelphhia, U.S.A. 1931 Exhb. at Town Hall, Bombay, India. 1932 Exhb. at Government School of Art, Calcutta, India. 1933 Exhb. at Town Hall, Bombay. 1934 Exhb. at Colombo, Ceylon. 1934 Exhb. at Congress House, Madras. 1938 Caiman Gallery, London, U.K. 1939 Bangiya Sahitya Parisad, Calcutta. 1943 Tagore Society, Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay. 1943 Exhb. at Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan.

COLLECTION

Indian Museum, Kolkata. National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi. Rabindra-Sadana (Tagore Museum), Santiniketan. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Rabindra Bharati University Museum, Kolkata. Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi.

AWARDS

1914 Awarded the Nobel Prize for his literary achievements. 1915 Knighted by King George, but he rejected it.

STYLE

The purpose of art was for him self-expression or more precisely `the expression of personality` and by personality he meant the intimate and mutually transforming dialogue between individual man and the word. During the 40s paintings inspired by specific locations began to grow in number and occupy a special place in his oeuvre. On the one hand they carry forward a development that began with his Santiniketan landscapes of the 30s but on the other they also show a new departure. Panoramic, and usually in ink on paper, they convey an experience of space that is different from those of his earlier landscapes. His last suit of drawings were done in the early 60s, these show him moving further towards abstraction and an extreme simply of statement.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Taught at Brahmacharya Ashram, Santiniketan.

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