Untitled

One of India’s nine National Treasure artists, Santiniketan-based Nandalal Bose would carry ‘postcards’ on his person—often slips of paper—to record scenes from everyday pastoral life that he saw around him. Having forsaken his Bengal School training, Bose used mere lines to create captivating vignettes of rural life such as in this Untitled work where women squat to sell their farm produce while a child plays in the background. Vegetables discernible in the straw basket include eggplant, gourd, cabbage; basic kitchen implements such as tongs, ladle, spatula, and slotted spoon, are also spread out.