Why Kakuzo Okakura visited Rabindranath Tagore?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → To unite India with other Eastern nations and fight against western imperialism
Option (1) To establish Government College of Art and Craft in Kolkata — Incorrect. His visit had a political and cultural aim, and setting up a college was no part of it.
Option (2) To unite India with other Eastern nations and fight against western imperialism — Correct. Okakura, a Japanese nationalist, came with his ideas of pan-Asianism, which means this union of eastern nations.
Option (3) To teach oil painting to Indian students — Incorrect. The two Japanese artists with him taught wash technique, as an alternative to western oil painting.
Option (4) To promote European style of painting and boycott traditional art — Incorrect. Pan-Asianism stood against western domination, so promoting the European style would go against his aim.
NCERT (2026-27): “Pan-Asianism and Modernism …Ananda Coomaraswamy, an important art historian, wrote about Swadeshi in art and joined hands with a Japanese nationalist, Kakuzo Okakura, who was visiting Rabindranath Tagore in Calcutta. He came to India with his ideas about pan-Asianism, by which he wanted to unite India with other eastern nations and fight against western imperialism. Two Japanese artists accompanied him to Calcutta, who went to Shantiniketan to teach wash technique of painting to Indian students as an alternative to western oil painting.…” |