Rabindranath Tagore
Padmashree Singannachar Narasimha Swamy (Mysore 1911 - Mysore 1983)
Category
Art / Drawings and watercolours
Date
6 May 1947
Materials
Pencil on paper
Measurements
184 x 140 mm (7 1/4 x 5 1/2 in)
Order this imageCollection
Shaw's Corner, Hertfordshire
NT 1274688
Summary
Rabindranath Tagore by Singannachar Narasimha Swamy (Mysore 1911 - Mysore 1983), 6 May 1947. Pencil on paper. Gift of the artist Swamy to Bernard Shaw. Signed, centre left: Swamy and inscribed:'To G. Bernard Shaw Esqr. with sweet remembrances from Swamy 6.5.47.' A head-and-shoulders portrait, turned to the right, right profile. Wavy collar length hair from side parting, moustache and side burns flowing into bushy beard. Wears striped shirt with plain collarless vest beneath.
Full description
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) by Singannachar Narasimha Swamy (Mysore 1911 - Mysore 1983), 6 May 1947. Pencil on paper. Gift of the artist Swamy to Bernard Shaw. Rabindranath Tagore was a poet, song-writer, novelist, and activist who became a Bengali cultural icon. He was admired by the Shaws, particularly Charlotte. Tagore was awarded the Noble Prize for Literature in 1913, the year he visited the Shaws at Adelphi Terrace in London. Yoga Narasimha (Swamy’s grandson) recalled: “My grandfather used to send pencil sketches of Mr. Shaw and others to Mr. George Bernard Shaw. The sketch of Rabindranath Tagore is one such portrait and a similar sketch of Rabindranath Tagore, also done by my grandfather, hangs in Jayachamarajendra Art Gallery, Jaganmohan Palace, Mysore. Mr. Shaw had also returned a pencil sketch of himself done by my grandfather with his autograph. [This drawing of Shaw by Swamy is now in the Richard S. Weiner Collection, Colgate University, New York]. My grandfather also received the book, Back to Methuselah, signed and dated 5 Nov 1946 by Mr. Shaw with a message of thanks for sending him Mahatma Gandhi’s sketch [NT 1274709]. (Alice McEwan, 2020)
Provenance
Gift of the artist Swamy to Bernard Shaw in 1947. The Shaw Collection. The house and contents were bequeathed to the National Trust by George Bernard Shaw in 1950, together with Shaw's photographic archive.
Marks and inscriptions
Recto: Signature below head, left, "Swamy". Hand written inscription below - "To G. Bernard Shaw Esqr. with sweet remembrances from Swamy 6.5.47"
Makers and roles
Padmashree Singannachar Narasimha Swamy (Mysore 1911 - Mysore 1983), artist