Gopi, ca. 1940
Jamini Roy (Indian, 1887–1972)
Opaque watercolor on board
Harn Museum of Art Collection, University of Florida; Gift of Taylor Hardwick [p-81-37]
Roy trained at the Government Art School in Calcutta, where he learned about academic Western painting. But it was also in Calcutta that he saw Kalighat paintings, so named for the neighborhood in which artisans sat outside of the Kali temple and made quick images to be sold as souvenirs. In his paintings, Roy incorporated the style of Kalighat and other folk paintings to depict everyday scenes or mythological stories. Interestingly, his use of primitive art resulted in modern paintings like Gopi. The loose brushstrokes and simplification of form in this work are reminiscent of the work of European modernists as well as Kalighats.
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