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Born in Munger, Bihar, Nandalal Bose was one of the pioneers of modern Indian art and a key figure of Contextual Modernism. Bose’s involvement in India’s freedom movement started in the 1930’s, when he created a linocut print of Mahatma Gandhi as a mark of the start of the Dandi March.

The Bengal School of Art emerged parallelly to the freedom movement across the state. Taking on a Swadeshi spirit from there, artist Nandalal Bose spearheaded this nationalistic artistic movement to celebrate the spiritual and artistic Indian traditions.

When the Indian Constitution was being drafted, the members of Constituent Assembly thought it would be appropriate if the document could somehow represent India’s journey and heritage. The Congress entrusted Bose with the task of illustrating the pages. He selected a team of artists who made 22 images for the manuscript of the Indian Constitution.

The National Gallery of Modern Art has a resplendent repository with 6800 works of art of Nandalal Bose as paintings, graphic prints, drawings and sketches. Among these works we have the landmark suite of temperas popularly known as Haripura Posters painted in 1938 commissioned by Mahatama Gandhi to decorate the pandal for the Congress session at Haripura.