The passage below is about modern European art in India. Read it and answer the question that follows.
Ideas about modern European art also travelled to India. The year 1922 may be regarded as a remarkable one, when an important exhibition of works by Paul Klee, Kandinsky and other artists, who were part of the Bauhaus School in Germany, travelled to Calcutta. These European artists had rejected academic realism, which appealed to the Swadeshi artists. They created a more abstract language of art, consisting of squares, circles, lines and colour patches. For the first time, Indian artists and the public had a direct encounter with modern art of this kind.
As mentioned in the passage, which elements made up the abstract language of art of the Bauhaus School artists?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Squares, circles, lines and colour patches
Option (1) Academic realism of the art schools — Incorrect. The Bauhaus artists rejected academic realism. Their abstract language replaced it.
Option (2) Squares, circles, lines and colour patches — Correct. Their more abstract language consisted of squares, circles, lines and colour patches.
Option (3) Diamond-shaped planes and prismatic colours — Incorrect. Diamond-shaped planes and prismatic colours belong to Gaganendranath Tagore’s City in the Night, where they render the mountain ranges of the city.
Option (4) Geometric patterns of building interiors — Incorrect. Building interiors made of geometric patterns belong to Gaganendranath Tagore’s Cubist paintings, not to the Bauhaus artists.
NCERT (2026-27): “Pan-Asianism and Modernism …If, on one hand, pan-Asianism was gaining popularity, ideas about modern European art also travelled to India. Hence, the year 1922 may be regarded as a remarkable one, when an important exhibition of works by Paul Klee, Kandinsky and other artists, who were part of the Bauhaus School in Germany, travelled to Calcutta. These European artists had rejected academic realism, which appealed to the Swadeshi artists. They created a more abstract language of art, consisting of squares, circles, lines and colour patches.” |