Kala Bhavana was set up at Shantiniketan in 1919. What was its place…

Kala Bhavana was set up at Shantiniketan in 1919. What was its place in the history of Indian art?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 3

The correct answer is Option (3) → It was India’s first nationalist art school

Option (1) It was the art school where the Bengal School of Art began — Incorrect. The Bengal School was nurtured by Abanindranath Tagore and E. B. Havell. Kala Bhavana carried its vision but went its own way.
Option (2) It was the first art school set up by the British in Calcutta — Incorrect. The British-era art schools came up in Lahore, Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in the nineteenth century.
Option (3) It was India’s first nationalist art school — Correct. Kala Bhavana was India’s first nationalist art school, part of the new Visva-Bharati University.
Option (4) It promoted academic and naturalist art of Victorian taste — Incorrect. This describes the colonial art schools; nationalist art grew up against that bias.

Note: This topic was not named in the CUET 2026 syllabus, but it was part of the NCERT chapter. In 2025 and 2026, NTA also asked questions on topics in NCERT that the CUET syllabus did not name. So our mocks have questions from every part of the NCERT chapter, to give you enough practice. Read the whole chapter, not only the sub-topics named in the syllabus.

NCERT (2026-27): “Introduction to Modernism in India …By mid and late nineteenth century, art schools were established in major cities like Lahore, Calcutta (now, Kolkata), Bombay (now, Mumbai) and Madras (now, Chennai). These art schools tended to promote traditional Indian crafts, and academic and naturalist art that reflected Victorian tastes.…”

“Introduction to Modernism in India …As mentioned in the previous chapter, it was against this colonial bias that nationalist art emerged, and the Bengal School of Art, as nurtured by Abanindranath Tagore and E. B. Havell, was a prime example. India’s first nationalist art school, Kala Bhavana, was set up in 1919 as part of the newly established Visva-Bharati University in Shantiniketan, conceptualised by poet Rabindranath Tagore. It carried the vision of the Bengal School but also followed its own path in creating art meaningful for Indians.”

Kala Bhavana was set up at Shantiniketan in 1919. What was its place in the history of Indian art?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 3

The correct answer is Option (3) → It was India’s first nationalist art school

Option (1) It was the art school where the Bengal School of Art began — Incorrect. The Bengal School was nurtured by Abanindranath Tagore and E. B. Havell. Kala Bhavana carried its vision but went its own way.
Option (2) It was the first art school set up by the British in Calcutta — Incorrect. The British-era art schools came up in Lahore, Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in the nineteenth century.
Option (3) It was India’s first nationalist art school — Correct. Kala Bhavana was India’s first nationalist art school, part of the new Visva-Bharati University.
Option (4) It promoted academic and naturalist art of Victorian taste — Incorrect. This describes the colonial art schools; nationalist art grew up against that bias.