Who was the influential art historian who wrote about Swadeshi in art during the Swadeshi movement?

Ananda Coomaraswamy

Answer: Ananda Coomaraswamy
Ananda Coomaraswamy, an important art historian, wrote about Swadeshi in art during the peak of the Swadeshi movement. His contributions played a key role in shaping ideas about Indian art during this period.

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. 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.