Words & Symbols

Born into the aristocratic milieu of the Tagore family in Calcutta (now Kolkata), Sunayani Devi was one of the pioneering women modernist artists of India. Her elder siblings were Gaganendranath Tagore and Abanindranath Tagore, while Rabindranath was her uncle. In spite of the progressive context of her family, she was largely confined to the domestic sphere, leading commentators of her work to label her art as primitivist or ‘naïve’, reflecting the spiritual purity of the inner chambers of such households where the men were seen to be tainted by the colonial world outside. Fascinated by devotional pictures as a child, the theme of her paintings revolved around the mythological and religious epics of Krishna Lila, Ramayana and Mahabharata, with her style highly influenced by Kalighat pat paintings. With its sharp outlines, the perfect roundness of the faces of the figures, and delicate brushstrokes applied to enhance the features of the figures on display, Devi, in this painting of Shiva and Parvati, uses simplicity as a formidable technique to draw the viewer into the work.