Known as the first modernist master of Indian art, he reinvented the trope of western modernism in an Indian context and synthesises it with Indian folk art forms.

Jamini Roy was born in 1887 in a small village in Beliatore, Bankura district of West Bengal. He joined the Government School of Art, Kolkata in 1903. He began his career by painting in the post impressionistic genre of landscapes and portraits. But after mastering these genres, he drifted towards folk art to find his roots with folk inspired paintings in order to evolve a distinct style of his own. And Jamini Roy’s distinct style indeed became a string socio-cultural and political statement as it became symbolic of a culture trying to find inspiration in its own roots and rich artistic tradition rather than looking towards the west for inspiration.