Cultural Renaissance in Bengal took place in the beginning of the twentieth century. Kolkata was enjoying a commercial boom at that time as the bulk of India`s trade passed through this city. Kolkata was dotted with an increasing number of factories and mansions; it came alive with song, dance and street theatre that created a mood of excitement. For the first time Indians, Bengalis in particular, began to take a missionary-like look at India to reform it and make it progressive. Western education brought Western-style reasoning and being critical of superstition and dogma. Institutions of social reform, such as Brahmo Samaj, founded by Raja Ram Mohan Roy began to `modernize` Hindu society.
Schools and colleges grew making the Bengalis discover the riches of their language. Printing presses flourished that brought a constant flow of new literature. On a pan India basis there was a quick expansion in all sectors. At the fountain-head of this enthusiasm was a single Bengali family the multi-talented Tagores. They composed poetry, staged plays, sang and painted. The most celebrated being the poet Rabindranath Tagore who went on to become the first Indian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. His nephews, the brothers Gaganendranath and Abanindranath Tagore distinguished themselves as the first `modern` Indian artists. They later proved to be the most influential Indian artist of the early decades of the twentieth century and they also emerged as the leaders of the so-called school of Revivalists.
The subject matter varied from the exotic Indian flora and fauna to local social types and customs to give the public back home a glimpse of the lifestyles of the people who Britain had ruled. The British rather considered the art of the Indian artists as a straightforward visual record. The artists depicted what moved them and what was true to their lives - folklore, mythology and court life.
As far as sculpture was concerned, wood carving in South India and marble work in Rajasthan needs a mention. The Muslim conquerors had smashed stone imagery depicting such themes wherever and whenever they could. All Muslim conquerors in India had destroyed Hindu temples and the great works they housed. The noble Indian sculptural tradition of the Mauryas, Kushans, the Gupta dynasties; the Chola period, and the temples of Khajuraho and Konark died. However the Mughals were great builders and Mughal Architecture had influenced Indian architectural style as a whole. At Rabindranath Tagore`s university at Shantiniketan there was a serious attempt to breathe new life into Indian sculpture under the leadership of one of its visionary teachers, Ramkmkar Vaij now hailed as modern India`s first and foremost practitioner of sculpture. There have been other eminent sculptors since 1947 like Amarnath Sehgal, Somnath Hore and Sankho Chaudhury.
