“A man who could make art out of anything” was how Mahatma Gandhi addressed Nandalal Bose, the legendary artist from West Bengal. The National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in Delhi houses 6,800 paintings of Bose who made even the Indian Constitution his canvas. The 22 hand-drawn illustrations that adorn the pages of the first Indian Constitution manuscript were commissioned to Bose and his team.
Haripura panels, commissioned by none other than Gandhi himself for the Haripura Congress in 1938, is one of the most famous works of Bose whose works have been declared as National Treasures. Of the 400 panels that were drawn for the exhibition 77 are currently on display at the National Gallery of Modern Arts, Bengaluru. ‘Cotton Spinning’ from Haripura Panels Art as a uniting force In 1936, the 50th session of the Indian National Congress was held in Faizpur, presided over by Nehru.
The first Congress session in a backward rural setting drew peasants in large numbers and saw a record participation. Bose had an important role in designing the pavilion of the Faizpur Congress in 1936. “After the Faizpur Congress, Gandhi realised the potential of art to unite people, and he thought it could be further exploited at the Haripura Congress.
So, he insisted on an exhibition by Bose,” says art historian Dr. Deepak Kannal while leading a Haripura Panels Walk at NGMA, Bengaluru. “The corpus of work was so large and it was not easy to do it in the given time.
But he took the chall.