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Album Cover - The Offending Shadow: Public Access Description

This album cover from 1917 depicts a man smashing his own reflection and large shadow. It was created by Gaganendranath Tagore, a satirical cartoonist born in Kolkata. Tagore used lithography to create a series of caricatures highlighting the hypocrisy of Hindu priests and wealthy westernized elites. The album was one of several Tagore produced in the early 20th century to satirize and expose issues in Indian society as independence movements emerged.

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Barnali Dutta
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41 views

Album Cover - The Offending Shadow: Public Access Description

This album cover from 1917 depicts a man smashing his own reflection and large shadow. It was created by Gaganendranath Tagore, a satirical cartoonist born in Kolkata. Tagore used lithography to create a series of caricatures highlighting the hypocrisy of Hindu priests and wealthy westernized elites. The album was one of several Tagore produced in the early 20th century to satirize and expose issues in Indian society as independence movements emerged.

Uploaded by

Barnali Dutta
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Album cover - The Offending Shadow

Object: Album cover

Place of origin: Kolkata (made)

Date: 1917 (made)

Artist/Maker: Tagore, Gaganendranath, born 1867 - died 1938 (artist)

Materials and Techniques: Lithography, printed in ink on paper

Museum number: IS.5:1-1987

Gallery location: In Storage

Public access description


This is from a collection of 16 lithographs bound in one volume. The lithographs are a series of caricatures of Bengali life, depicting the artist's
satirical comments on a range of subjects including the caste system, the hypocrisy of Hindu priests and the double-standards of the affluent
western-educated members of society known as the Bhadralok.

Gaganendranath Tagore (1867-1938) was a satirical cartoonist and painter. Born in Calcutta, Gaganendranath grew up in a family whose
exceptional creativity spearheaded Calcutta's cultural scene. Gaganendranath was nephew of poet Rabindranath Tagore and brother of
Abanindranath Tagore, the pioneer and leading exponent of the Bengal School of Art.

The cartoon shows a man smashing up his own reflection and his large black shadow behind him.
Descriptive line
Album cover, 'The Offending Shadow' from the album 'The Realm of the Absurd', by Gaganendranath Tagore, lithograph in ink on paper,
Kolkata, 1917
Physical description
Lithograph, in ink on paper. This is the front cover of the album with the title in the Bengali and English in the top left hand corner. The image
shows a man smashing up his own reflection and his large black shadow behind him. The name of the lithographer, the date of production and
the printing studio are listed below. The album is edged with brown tape.
Museum number
IS.5:1-1987
Object history note
R.F. 1987/36 & 1985/1321. Acquired from Mr Indar Pasricha and Dr Partha Mitter.

In this series of caricatures the artist wanted to highlight the nature of society in India at a time when the struggle for Indian Independence from
British rule was just beginning. He wanted to expose the hypocrisy of the Hindu priesthood as well as the rich westernised Indians who had
lost sight of the value of their own culture. This album was printed in small quantities and was sold for four rupees.

This is a collection of 16 lithographs bound in one volume. The lithographs are a series of caricatures of Bengali life, depicting the artist's
satirical comments on a range of subjects including the caste system, the hypocrisy of Hindu priests and the double-standards of the affluent
western-educated members of society known as the Bhadralok.
Historical context note
Gaganendranath Tagore (1867-1938) was a satirical cartoonist and painter. Born in Calcutta, Gaganendranath grew up in a family whose
exceptional creativity spearheaded Calcutta's cultural scene. Gaganendranath was nephew of poet Rabindranath Tagore and brother of
Abanindranath Tagore, the pioneer and leading exponent of the Bengal School of Art.

The artist received no formal education but was trained under the British school watercolourist Harinarayan Bandopadhyay. In 1907, he
founded the Indian Society of Oriental Art with his brother Abanindranath. Between 1906 and 1910, the artist assimilated the Japanese brush
technique and Far Eastern pictorial conventions into his own work (see his illustrations for Rabindranath Tagore's autobiography Jeevansmriti
published in 1912.) From 1910 until 1914, Gaganendranath developed his own approach to SUMI-E or black ink (see Chaitanya series and
Pilgrim series.) Between 1915 and 1919, the artist, with the help of his brother, set up the Bichitra club in the Tagore family house. The club
served as an important social, intellectual and artistic hub of cultural life in Calcutta, where many artists, including Nandalal Bose, A.K. Haldar
and Suren Kar worked at their paintings.

During these years, Gaganendranath abandoned the ideological revivalism embraced by the Bengal School of Art and took up caricature to
satirize the westernised middle class of urban Bengal. The artist's popularity was secured in 1917 when Modern Review published many of his
shrewd cartoons. From 1917 onwards, his lithographs appeared in a series of books, including: Play of Opposites, Realm of the Absurd and
Reform Screams. In these mocking pieces, the austerity of Kalighat paintings is wedded to the simplicity of Japanese prints. Between 1920
until 1925, Gaganendranath, informed about modern European art, pioneered experiments in cubism colour and in ink. His work however, was
pictorially closer to the dynamism of Italian Futurism rather than the work of Picasso and Braque. From 1925 onwards, the artist developed a
complex post-cubist style. Gaganendranath's work has been exhibited internationally.
URL
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O82456/the-offending-shadow-album-cover-tagore-gaganendranath/

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