Ideas about art in Bengal changed in the early twentieth century. Consider the following statements:
(A) After Bengal’s Partition in 1905, the Swadeshi movement peaked and was reflected in ideas about art.
(B) Colonialism introduced new institutions of art like art schools, exhibition galleries, art magazines and art societies.
(C) E. B. Havell, an Englishman, sided with the anglicists and considered European modernism authentic.
(D) Nationalist artists rejected the new art schools and exhibition galleries brought by colonialism.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → (A) and (B) only
(A) After Bengal’s Partition in 1905, the Swadeshi movement peaked and was reflected in ideas about art. — Correct. The Swadeshi movement peaked after the Partition of Bengal in 1905 and shaped ideas about art.
(B) Colonialism introduced new institutions of art like art schools, exhibition galleries, art magazines and art societies. — Correct. Art schools, exhibition galleries, art magazines and art societies came with colonialism.
(C) E. B. Havell, an Englishman, sided with the anglicists and considered European modernism authentic. — Incorrect. It was Benoy Sarkar, a Bengali intellectual, who sided with the anglicists. Havell was in favour of a return to native art.
(D) Nationalist artists rejected the new art schools and exhibition galleries brought by colonialism. — Incorrect. Nationalist artists accepted these changes and still asserted a more Indian taste in art.
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): “Pan-Asianism and Modernism The colonial art policy had created a divide between those who liked the European academic style and those who favoured Indian style. But following the Partition of Bengal in 1905, the Swadeshi movement was at its peak and it reflected in ideas about art.…” “Different Concepts of Modernism: Western and Indian … Take the case of the Bengali intellectual, Benoy Sarkar, who sided with the anglicists and considered modernism that was growing in Europe as authentic in an article, ‘The Futurism of Young Asia’. For him, the Oriental Bengal School of Art was regressive and anti-modern. On the other hand, it was E. B. Havell, an Englishman, who was in favour of return to native art to create a true modern Indian art.…” “Different Concepts of Modernism: Western and Indian … Modern art in India can be best understood as a result of the conflict between colonialism and nationalism. Colonialism introduced new institutions of art like art schools, exhibition galleries, art magazines and art societies. Nationalist artists, while accepting these changes, continued to assert more Indian taste in art and even accepted a larger Asian identity for a while.…” |