Osian's Auction Catalogue The Masterpieces Series | March 2010

25 The Masterpieces SerieS 4 A BAnindrAnAth & p rAtimA t Agore (1871 – 1951) & (1893 – 1969) National Art Treasure (AT) Portrait of Rabindranath Tagore Dry pastel on mount-board, 1930-1 Signed in Bengali ‘Pratima’ l.l. 29.8 x 21.5 in (75.6 x 54.6 cm) Provenance From S. Chatterjee’s Collection, grandson of J.P. Ganguly. Inherited from his aunt Pratima Tagore, w/o Rathindranath Tagore (s/o Rabindranath Tagore) INR 400,000 – 600,000 Non–Exportable Item “ ‘Portrait of Rabindranath Tagore’ is a rare example of a joint artistic venture by Abanindranath and his niece Protima Tagore (his elder sister Binoyinee Devi’s daughter). Protima Devi’s initial interest and training in art was due to her close relationship with uncle Abanindranath who later placed her under the care of his favourite disciple, Nandalal Bose, during the Bichitra Club period at Jorasanko, for a systematic training. Only a few of her early works were published in Bengali magazines like Prabasi and Bichitra . She was also very shy of publicity and had never sent any of her work to exhibitions. About this joint work on the portrait on Rabindranath Tagore by Abanindranath & Protima, my aunt Protima Tagore told me that she had a mind to place a portrait of Gurudev Tagore (her father in law) on a marble slab in front of her proposed Kalimpong house, later named as Chitravanu. Accordingly she requested Abanindranath for a portrait of Gurudev which would be easy to transfer onto a marble slab. Abanindranath consented and affectionately asked for her participation in the work.” – Sudipto Chatterjee, nephew of Protima Tagore & grand- nephew of Abanindranath Tagore, in conversation with the Osian’s CARD team, 2010.