Views on art in colonial India. Match the people or groups in List-I with their views or stand in List-II.
| List-I | List-II |
|---|---|
| A. The English under colonial rule in the eighteenth century | I. Sided with the anglicists |
| B. Nationalist artists | II. Charmed by Indian customs and locales |
| C. Benoy Sarkar | III. Favoured return to native art |
| D. E. B. Havell | IV. Accepted a larger Asian identity |
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → A-II, B-IV, C-I, D-III
| List-I | List-II | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| (A) The English under colonial rule | (II) Charmed by Indian customs and locales | Under colonial rule the English were drawn to the life of people of all ranks, tropical plants and animals, and varied places in India. |
| (B) Nationalist artists | (IV) Accepted a larger Asian identity | They accepted the new colonial institutions of art but kept asserting Indian taste. For a while they also took on a larger Asian identity. |
| (C) Benoy Sarkar | (I) Sided with the anglicists | This Bengali intellectual sided with the anglicists. In ‘The Futurism of Young Asia’ he called European modernism authentic. |
| (D) E. B. Havell | (III) Favoured return to native art | Though an Englishman, he wanted a return to native art. So the divide between anglicists and orientalists was not based on race. |
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): “Company Painting Art in India had a different purpose prior to the coming of the British. It could be seen as statues on temple walls, miniature paintings that often illustrated manuscripts, decoration on the walls of mud houses in villages, among many other examples. With the colonial rule around the eighteenth century, the English were charmed by different manners and customs of people of all ranks, tropical flora and fauna, and varying locales.…” “Different Concepts of Modernism: Western and Indian The divide between anglicists and orientalists, as mentioned earlier, was not based on race. 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.…” |