Study of a Young Nude

One of the most successful painters in the mould of Raja Ravi Varma, Hemendranath Mazumdar trained at the Jubilee Art Academy in Calcutta that provided training in Western academic realism as opposed to the tenets of the contemporary and influential Bengal School. He earned great success, renown and patronage for his sensuous oil portraits of nubile young women, partially clothed or nude, including bathing beauties. This conte on paper work, done a few years before his passing, is a wonderful example of the command Mazumdar had in realistically depicting human anatomy, with every crease, bend and fold clearly discernible.