From Kyoto to Santiniketan: Japanese Woodblock Traditions and Nandalal Bose’s Graphic Art

An unpublished procession print reveals the quiet dialogue between Japanese printmaking and the evolution of modern Indian graphic art.

 -- By Vikram Bachhawat
Art Researcher, Collector, and Founder-Director, Aakriti Art Gallery



Among the many achievements of Nandalal Bose (1882–1966), his paintings, murals and iconic Bapuji linocut (1930) have received sustained scholarly attention. Far less studied, however, are his graphic prints, where some of the most significant artistic exchanges between India and East Asia quietly unfolded. Long before “Asian modernism” became an art historical term, Bose had begun absorbing Japanese ideas of line, composition and printmaking, transforming them into a distinctly Indian visual language.

A recently examined relief print—an untitled vertical composition depicting a ceremonial procession—offers an opportunity to revisit this important chapter in Santiniketan’s history. Surviving in both black and orange impressions, the work measures approximately 12.75 × 4.75 inches. One impression carries four green stamped marks together with a handwritten Bengali dedication, suggesting that it may have been prepared as a presentation copy or incorporated into a private album. Although modest in scale, the print embodies a remarkable conversation between Japanese woodblock traditions and Indian artistic thought.



Santiniketan Looks East

The artistic philosophy of Santiniketan developed at a time when many Indian artists were seeking alternatives to European academic realism. Rather than looking exclusively towards Paris or London, Rabindranath Tagore, Abanindranath Tagore and their circle cultivated close intellectual relationships with Japan.

The visits of Okakura Kakuzō, Yokoyama Taikan, Hishida Shunsō, Kampō Arai and other Japanese artists introduced new possibilities for modern Asian art. These exchanges encouraged Indian artists to reconsider line, brushwork, decorative simplification and the expressive potential of empty space.

As Principal of Kala Bhavana from 1922, Nandalal Bose embraced this wider Asian outlook. During his travels to China and Japan, he studied Japanese prints and painting traditions, bringing back examples that later became valuable teaching material for students at Santiniketan. Rather than copying Japanese art, he sought to understand its underlying principles—economy of line, balance of form and rhythm of movement.



A Print Built Through Rhythm

The newly studied procession print demonstrates these qualities with remarkable clarity.

The composition unfolds vertically through overlapping figures carrying ceremonial objects beneath parasols and elaborate headgear. Every figure is defined by decisive contours rather than modelling or tonal shading. Drapery folds become rhythmic patterns, while the compressed arrangement of figures creates an almost musical movement upward through the composition.

The print is executed as a relief print, probably either a woodcut or linocut, where black and white function as positive and negative design rather than merely light and shadow. Bose reduces the human figure to its essential structural rhythms without sacrificing individuality—a quality that recalls Japanese graphic aesthetics while remaining unmistakably Indian.



Beyond Ukiyo-e

At first glance, the influence of Japanese woodblock prints appears evident. The bold outlines, flattened pictorial space, decorative organisation and carefully balanced negative space evoke the language of ukiyo-e, particularly the work of Utagawa Hiroshige and Katsushika Hokusai.

Yet the print is not an imitation of Japanese models.

Equally important are its Indian sources. The stacked vertical arrangement of figures recalls narrative friezes found at Sanchi, Ajanta, Bharhut, and medieval temple sculpture, where stories unfold through continuous processions rather than Western perspective. The flowing silhouettes also resonate with the linear elegance of Kalighat pats and eastern Indian manuscript painting.

Rather than borrowing from Japan, Bose used Japanese graphic principles to rediscover the expressive possibilities already present within Indian visual traditions. It was a dialogue between two Asian cultures rather than an act of stylistic imitation.



The Green Seals

One of the most intriguing features of the orange impression is the presence of four green stamped marks, accompanied by a handwritten Bengali presentation inscription.

Although their precise function requires further investigation, these seals immediately recall the long tradition of artist’s seals employed in China and Japan, where seals served not merely as signatures but as integral visual elements within a composition. Santiniketan artists were well aware of these East Asian conventions, and Bose himself encouraged an understanding of art that extended beyond European academic practices.

Whether these green impressions represent institutional marks, ownership stamps, workshop identifiers or presentation seals remains uncertain. Their presence nevertheless enriches the object’s historical significance and invites further archival study.




Printmaking at Kala Bhavana

Under Bose’s leadership, printmaking assumed an important place within Kala Bhavana’s curriculum. Relief printing encouraged students to think structurally—to simplify forms, understand positive and negative space, and develop confidence in line.

Unlike oil painting, prints could also be reproduced, making original art more widely accessible. In many ways, they reflected Rabindranath Tagore’s educational ideals: art should not remain confined to elite patrons but circulate more freely among society.

Students including Mukul Dey, Benode Behari Mukherjee, and later generations of Santiniketan artists continued to explore graphic media, helping establish one of India’s most influential printmaking traditions.




A Quiet Discovery

The significance of this procession print extends beyond its aesthetic qualities. It reminds us that many important works by Nandalal Bose remain dispersed in private collections, family albums and little-known archives. Such works continue to illuminate aspects of his practice that receive comparatively little attention in standard histories of Indian modern art.

They also remind us that Santiniketan’s modernism was never defined solely through dialogue with Europe. Its artists consciously engaged with Asian artistic traditions, creating a new visual language rooted in shared cultural histories while remaining unmistakably modern.

The rediscovery of this print therefore offers more than an addition to Bose’s catalogue. It provides a glimpse into an artistic philosophy in which Kyoto, Ajanta, Santiniketan and rural Bengal could coexist within the same composition—bound together through rhythm, line and a deeply human understanding of art.

Selected Bibliography

• Bose, Nandalal. Shilpa Katha. Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan.
• Siva Kumar, R. Santiniketan: The Making of a Contextual Modernism. National Gallery of Modern Art.
• Subramanyan, K. G. The Living Tradition: Perspectives on Modern Indian Art.
• Okakura Kakuzō. The Ideals of the East.
• Inaga, Shūichi. Selected essays on Indo-Japanese artistic exchanges and Pan-Asian aesthetics.
• Akar Prakar. Nandalal Bose exhibition catalogue and research essays.
• National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi. Exhibition catalogues on Nandalal Bose.
• Visva-Bharati Archives, Rabindra Bhavana, Santiniketan.
• Asia Society. Exhibition resources on Nandalal Bose and Asian modernism.