Nationalist art emerged in India against the colonial bias of the British. Who nurtured the Bengal School of Art, a prime example of this nationalist art?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Abanindranath Tagore and E. B. Havell
Option (1) Gaganendranath Tagore and Rabindranath Tagore — Incorrect. These two Tagores knew of Cubism and Expressionism from art magazines. The Bengal School is not linked with them.
Option (2) Rabindranath Tagore and Abanindranath Tagore — Incorrect. Abanindranath fits, but Rabindranath conceptualised Visva-Bharati University, where Kala Bhavana was set up in 1919.
Option (3) Abanindranath Tagore and E. B. Havell — Correct. The Bengal School of Art was nurtured by Abanindranath Tagore and E. B. Havell.
Option (4) Gaganendranath Tagore and E. B. Havell — Incorrect. Havell fits, but Gaganendranath knew of Cubism and Expressionism from art magazines.
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 …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. …Artists from the Tagore family — Gaganendranath and poet–painter Rabindranath, thus, knew about the international trends of Cubism and Expressionism…” |