Nandalal Bose painted a set of panels famously called the ‘Haripura Posters’. Which vision did these posters echo?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → A socialist vision of including marginalised sections through art
Option (1) A pan-Asian vision of uniting India with other eastern nations — Incorrect. This was the pan-Asianism of the Japanese nationalist Kakuzo Okakura, meant to fight western imperialism.
Option (2) A vision of realistic studies in the European academic style — Incorrect. Realistic studies were taught at the Bombay School of Art by its Principal, Gladstone Solomon. His students got the murals for Lutyen’s Delhi under the British Raj’s art policy.
Option (3) A vision of the modernism growing in Europe as authentic — Incorrect. Benoy Sarkar sided with the anglicists and considered the modernism growing in Europe as authentic.
Option (4) A socialist vision of including marginalised sections through art — Correct. The posters showed ordinary rural folk at work. In this way they echoed Gandhi’s socialist vision.
NCERT (2026-27): “Shantiniketan — Early modernism …Famously called the ‘Haripura Posters’, they depicted ordinary rural folks busy in various activities — a musician drumming, a farmer tilling, a woman churning milk, and so on. They were painted as lively colourful sketchy figures and shown as contributing their labour to nation building. These posters echoed with Gandhi’s socialist vision of including marginalised sections of Indian society through art.” |