Jamini Roy (1887-1972), one of the most famous painter of the late nineteenth to mid twentieth century, created his own language of painting which was marked by the traditional folk arts of Bengal, especially the pata-painting. His paintings were the symphony of bold lines, colorful palette and simple rhythmic life of rural Bengal.

Jamini Roy was born in the year 1887 in a middle class family at Beliator village in Bankura district of West Bengal. Bankura district has a rich heritage of rural culture. Jamini Roy`s father Ramratan Roy was an idealistic person and an amateur artist who resigned from the Government service and spent rest of his life amidst the village potters. This had an immense impact on adolescent Jamini and was one of the main reason of his inclination towards art. He studied at Calcutta Government Art School from 1906 to 1914 and specially learned the European Academic Style. In 1908 he received his diploma from the Art School. Italian artist Gilerdy taught him the style of western art and Principal Percy Brown showed him the techniques of oriental art.

Jamini Roy`s artistic career can be divided into different phases like the master artist Picasso. The first phase was a blunder as he worked in European post-impressionist style though he acquired much skill. He made some brilliant forays in the post-impressionist genre of landscape and portraits copying the style of Van Gogh, Cezanne and Gauguin.but art-critics found these adding no valuation and he endured extreme poverty, as his works were lusterless and banal.

Jamini Roy was so disheartened that he started taking odd jobs to survive. Side by side he was searching for his true style and he got the answers to his predicament in oriental rural art, folk life and Kalighat patas (the local painting sold in the Kalighat bazaar of Kolkata).Jamini Roy had great respect for Abanindranath Tagore and his Neo-Bengal school of painting and following his mentors way he started painting the mundane life of rural people, the familiar god and goddesses like Siva-Parvati, Ganesha, Krishna and Jesus. He also chose the life of Santals, their festivals as his subject and revealed their hilarious rhythmic life in his own non-narrative style. Both his occidental and oriental style was characterized by flat treatment of colors.

During this mature phase of his artistic endeavor Jamini Roy abandoned the formal elements of European Academic Style and confined himself in simple indigenous material and forms. Though he continued in a traditional way he brought modern setting and style of art. He adopted his subjects from Ramayana and Mahabharat, folk dolls, child art and `Patas` of rural Bengal, as well as god and goddesses and joy and sorrow of common people. In these paintings he deliberately avoided the three-dimensional form and acquired simple non-descriptive forms while using flat tone of colors. Like the rural folk-painters and potters of Bengal, Jamini Roy used cheap indigenous pigments like lampblack, chawk-powder, leaves and creepers for his art to make them within the reach of the affluent as well as the poor. Even today these paintings have a great value in beholders` eyes.

Some of his famous paintings are: `Santal Boy with Drum`, `Cats Sharing a Prawn`, `St. Ann and the Blessed Virgin`, ` Makara`, ` Cats Plus Seated Woman in Sari`, `Krishna And Radha Dancing`, `Kitten`, `Virgin And Child`, `Crucifixion with Attendant Angels`, `Ravana, Sita And Jatayu`, `Warrior King`, `Krishna with Gopis in Boat`, `Krishna and Balarama`, `Balgopala`, `Queen on Tiger`, `Vaishnavas` etc.

In his long career spread over half a century Jamini Roy earned fame and popularity though his contemporary artists hardly accepted his techniques and style. The first exposition of Jamini Roy`s work was held in British India Street (Calcutta)in 1938. His paintings came to public knowledge when critical appreciation of his works were published in several issues of `Parichaya`, a quarterly journal published from Calcutta. During the Second World War when American officers started buying exquisite paintings of Jamini Roy in higher price, the connoisseurs valued his work.

The affluent people of India and abroad as well as middle class also started collecting his paintings. His career started dazzling from 1930s and spanned upto 1960s. In about 1944 Roy befriended Austin Coates, who became a great supporter of him. On 1946 he had one exhibition in London and another show was arranged in NewYork on 1953. In the year 1955 Jamini Roy was honored with state award Padma Bhushan. His collections can be found in Victoria and Albert museum in London.

This most celebrated painter died on 1972 in Calcutta at the age of 85.