Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is a paint painting by the Bengal School artist Abanindranath Tagore. It dates from 1920 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The scene is painted on a postcard.
About this work
You see soft grey-blue mountains fading into the distance, with faint trees in front, all painted on a small postcard.
You see soft grey-blue mountains fading into the distance, with faint trees in front, all painted on a small postcard.
This wasn’t just art; it was a letter. Tagore sent it to a friend in Calcutta in 1920, the postmark still visible. The wash technique, thin, watery layers, blurs the shapes, making the scene feel quiet and endless. It’s like a memory, not a photograph.
To see more of this gentle style, look up Tagore, Abanindranath.
Overview
The untitled landscape was painted by Abanindranath Tagore in 1920 on a postcard using grey-blue and green-brown watercolours applied in a wash technique, rendering mountains and trees indistinct yet evoking a sense of space and ness. The work was sent to Roop Krishna Esq. at The India Society of Art in Calcutta, where it was postmarked on 27 November 1920. Tagore, a leading figure of the Bengal School of Art, developed this style to counter British colonial art education by reviving and modernizing Mughal and Rajput traditions, later incorporating Japanese wash techniques.
His efforts contributed to the recognition of an independent Indian artistic identity in both local and international contexts.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
Abanindranath Tagore was an Indian painter who was the principal artist and creator of the Indian Society of Oriental Art in 1907.
