Students at Shantiniketan learnt the wash technique of painting as an…

Students at Shantiniketan learnt the wash technique of painting as an alternative to western oil painting. Who went there to teach it?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 1

The correct answer is Option (1) → Two Japanese artists who came with Kakuzo Okakura

Option (1) Two Japanese artists who came with Kakuzo Okakura — Correct. Okakura, a Japanese nationalist, came with his ideas of pan-Asianism. Two Japanese artists came with him to Calcutta and went to Shantiniketan to teach the wash technique.
Option (2) Nandalal Bose, head of painting at Kala Bhavana — Incorrect. Nandalal Bose headed the painting department at Kala Bhavana. He turned to the folk art forms around Shantiniketan; the wash technique came with the Japanese artists.
Option (3) Kshitindranath Majumdar and M. R. Chughtai — Incorrect. They were younger artists who followed the new direction opened by Abanindranath. The wash technique came with the Japanese artists.
Option (4) Abanindranath Tagore and E. B. Havell — Incorrect. Havell and Abanindranath worked to Indianise art education at the Government Art School, Calcutta, not at Shantiniketan.

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 …Ananda Coomaraswamy, an important art historian, wrote about Swadeshi in art and joined hands with a Japanese nationalist, Kakuzo Okakura, who was visiting Rabindranath Tagore in Calcutta. He came to India with his ideas about pan-Asianism, by which he wanted to unite India with other eastern nations and fight against western imperialism. Two Japanese artists accompanied him to Calcutta, who went to Shantiniketan to teach wash technique of painting to Indian students as an alternative to western oil painting.”

Students at Shantiniketan learnt the wash technique of painting as an alternative to western oil painting. Who went there to teach it?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 1

The correct answer is Option (1) → Two Japanese artists who came with Kakuzo Okakura

Option (1) Two Japanese artists who came with Kakuzo Okakura — Correct. Okakura, a Japanese nationalist, came with his ideas of pan-Asianism. Two Japanese artists came with him to Calcutta and went to Shantiniketan to teach the wash technique.
Option (2) Nandalal Bose, head of painting at Kala Bhavana — Incorrect. Nandalal Bose headed the painting department at Kala Bhavana. He turned to the folk art forms around Shantiniketan; the wash technique came with the Japanese artists.
Option (3) Kshitindranath Majumdar and M. R. Chughtai — Incorrect. They were younger artists who followed the new direction opened by Abanindranath. The wash technique came with the Japanese artists.
Option (4) Abanindranath Tagore and E. B. Havell — Incorrect. Havell and Abanindranath worked to Indianise art education at the Government Art School, Calcutta, not at Shantiniketan.