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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2014.516
People
Nandalal Bose, Indian (1882 - 1966)
Title
Untitled (Banyan Trees, Palm Tree, and Altar)
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1960
Places
Creation Place: South Asia, India, West Bengal
Culture
Indian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/352294

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Black ink with traces of charcoal and incidental red chalk on Asian paper
Dimensions
38.7 x 28 cm (15 1/4 x 11 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: signed: lower right: black ink, Bengali: ১.৮ ৬০ (1.8 60) [1 August 1960], signature of the artist
  • seal: lower right: rectangular, red, intaglio seal of the artist
  • inscription: lower right: graphite, Bengali: ১ ২০ (২৮?) ৬০ (1 20 [28?] 60) [January 20 (28?) 1960]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Nandalal Bose, Santiniketan, West Bengal, India, (-1966), by inheritance; to his son, Biswarup Bose, Santiniketan, West Bengal, India (1966-1969 to 1971), gift; to Supratik Bose, grandson of Nandalal Bose, Cambridge, MA, (between 1969 and 1971-2014), gift; to the Harvard Art Museums.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Mary K. Eliot and Supratik Bose in honor of Sonya Rhie Quintanilla
Accession Year
2014
Object Number
2014.516
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
In this monochromatic ink drawing, the trunk of a palm tree shoots upward through the mass of branches produced by a neighboring banyan tree. The scene recalls a well-known Bengali poem by Rabindranath Tagore, who founded the school where Nandalal Bose spent much of his life as a teacher and an artist: “One-legged palm tree/topping the other trees/peering at the sky […]”. A seated figure at a modest altar seen through the tree trunks lends the scene a sense of human scale.

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 2590 South and Southeast Asia, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 04/26/2016 - 11/02/2016; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/31/2022 - 04/17/2023

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu