Tempera on fabric laid on Masonite board Signed in Bengali (lower right) ‘Jamini Roy’ National art treasure (non-exportable work)
Jamini Roy’s paintings of popular stories associated with Christianity are some of the most unique works of modern Indian art, where an essentially Western narrative has been rendered in a particularly Indian primitivist trope. This work, Flight to Egypt, is a brilliant example of such an amalgam. It depicts the journey of baby Jesus with mother Mary and father Joseph after an angel appeared in his father’s dream, asking him to flee to Egypt since King Herod was slaughtering baby boys in Bethlehem. This theme has been the subject of countless artistic renditions through centuries, but perhaps, only a few as lovable as Roy’s work, especially because of the highly expressive almond eyes of the subjects, including their vehicle, the donkey, and a cat in the background.
published references
Singh, Kishore, ed., Manifestations VIII: 20th Century Indian Art | 75 Artists (New Delhi: DAG, 2012), pp. 152-53 (ill. p. 153)
Singh, Kishore, ed., Indian Divine: Gods and Goddesses in 19th and 20th Century Modern Art (New Delhi: DAG, 2014), pp. 332-33 (ill. p. 333)
Singh, Kishore, ed., Indian Modern Art: A Visual History (New Delhi: DAG, 2016), ill. p. 520
Jamini Roy
Flight to Egypt
c. mid-20th century
Tempera on fabric laid on Masonite board Signed in Bengali (lower right) ‘Jamini Roy’ National art treasure (non-exportable work)
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Jamini Roy
Flight to Egypt
c. mid-20th century
Tempera on fabric laid on Masonite board Signed in Bengali (lower right) ‘Jamini Roy’ National art treasure (non-exportable work)
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