Born in Bihar in 1882, Nandalal Bose emerged as one of the most influential figures in the development of modern Indian art and a central member of the Bengal School of Art. At a time when Western academic naturalism dominated artistic training in colonial India, Bose sought to re-establish an artistic language rooted in indigenous traditions and philosophies.

Bose arrived in Calcutta as a teenager and later joined the Government College of Art & Craft, Kolkata, where he studied under Abanindranath Tagore from 1905. His close association with the Tagore household at Jorasanko exposed him to influential thinkers, including Rabindranath Tagore, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy and Okakura Kakuzō. Their ideas encouraged Bose to value Asian artistic heritage and to cultivate an art practice grounded in classical, folk and spiritual traditions.

An exceptional draughtsman, Bose explored a wide range of techniques including linocut, woodcut, drypoint, etching and lithography, extending these printmaking methods beyond their conventional commercial uses. His engagement with East Asian art led him to experiment with wash techniques inspired by Japanese painting, through which he transformed simple subjects from everyday life into lyrical visual expressions.

In 1920, Bose joined Kala Bhavan at Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan, later becoming its principal. As an educator, he emphasised the unity of art and nature and encouraged students to discover their own creative potential. Among those influenced by his teaching was K G Subramanyan, who would later become a major figure in Indian modernism.

One of Bose’s most celebrated achievements is the series of Haripura panels created in 1938 at the request of Mahatma Gandhi for the Indian National Congress session at Haripura. Executed on handmade paper, the seventy-seven panels portray scenes from rural Indian life, including artisans, farmers and domestic activities.

During the 1930s, his work also shifted increasingly towards landscape, and he experimented with tempera and stylistic approaches that reveal the impact of post-Impressionist and Expressionist sensibilities. Bose also contributed to the visual culture of the nationalist movement through posters for Indian National Congress gatherings and through illustrations for the manuscript of the Indian Constitution.

In recognition of his contributions to Indian art and culture, Bose was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1954. He passed away on 16 April 1966, leaving behind a legacy that profoundly shaped both the pedagogy and visual language of modern Indian art.