Art and Power in Colonial India

Resistance and Control

Abstract

This study examines how visual art served as both a means of nationalist resistance and an instrument of imperial control in British colonial India. In order to defend colonial domination, art schools and institutions under British rule imposed Western academic realism, rejecting native Indian artistic traditions as inferior and archaic. Indian artists were reduced to artisans by art schools in places like Madras, Calcutta, Bombay, and Lahore, which imposed European aesthetic standards and matched art with colonial economic interests. This cultural dominance, which reflected a larger colonial project of material, cultural and intellectual subjugation, attempted to reshape Indian identity by regulating artistic expression. In the early 20th century, a nationalist counter-movement known as the Bengal School of Art arose in response. Under the direction of Abanindranath Tagore and with assistance from individuals like Ananda Coomaraswamy and E.B. Havell, the School brought back traditional techniques, mythological themes, and indigenous styles as a way to resist colonial realism and assert cultural identity. This artistic renaissance was supported by organisations such as the Indian Society of Oriental Art, which promoted an anti-Western, spiritual interpretation of Indian modernism with roots in precolonial history. The article also discusses post-independence artists' criticisms of the Bengal School, who saw its revivalist spirituality as out of step with current social and political issues. In its conclusion, this study shows how visual art in colonial India was an area of contention where colonial power was both used and resisted, highlighting the close connections between politics, identity, and art during this pivotal time in Indian history.