Jamini Roy (1887-1972) Blue Nude signed in Bengali (lower right) tempera on canvas 59 x 40.5cm Provenance: Collection of Humphry House, acquired in Calcutta, 1936 thence by descent within the family Born in Beliatore, Bengal, Jamini Roy was an Indian artist whose work fused tradition with modernity, drawing inspiration from folk art to create a unique visual language. He is today celebrated as one of the most significant and diverse modernists of Indian art. Roy received his early training at the Government College of Art, Kolkata, where he followed a Western inspired syllabus. After obtaining his diploma in 1916, he began a career as a portraitist. From 1920, however, amidst a surge in nationalism, Roy dramatically abandoned his early academic style in favour of a more indigenous approach, influenced by the flat colours, graphic lines and stylised forms of Kalighat Patua art. Synthesising elements of traditional folk art with his own artistic sensibilities, Roy created a visual language that was both accessible and profound. During the early 1920s, working in what he called his ‘flat-technique’, Roy’s subjects were mostly women from the nearby Santal tribe. From the mid-1920s, he began creating his calligraphic works which depicted scenes of every day life, including seated figures, crawling infants and local wildlife. Although he is perhaps best-known for these works, Roy also included mythological figures and religious iconography amongst his diverse cast of subjects and motifs. Throughout his career, Roy remained steadfast in his commitment to democratising art. Rejecting elitism and championing accessibility, he believed that the transformative power of art to uplift and inspire should be available for all, across class and cultural barriers. Not only were his subjects largely plucked from the everyday, but by the end of the 1920s, he abandoned the European convention of oils and began making his own mineral and vegetable pigments from local sources. Highly decorated, in 1934 Roy received a Viceroy's gold medal and in 1955 was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Indian Government - the third highest award a civilian can be granted. In 1956, he was made the second Fellow of the Lalit Kala Akademi - the highest honour in the fine arts conferred by the Lalit Kala Akademi, India's National Academy of Art, Government of India. Today, Roy's legacy lives on through his artworks which continue to resonate with audiences worldwide, celebrating India's rich cultural heritage and the universal language of art.