NANDALAL BOSE (1882-1966)

"Annapurna--meaning "abundance of food"--is a name of the Hindu goddess who is the wife of Siva. Here she sits on a lotus and holds a bowl and a handful of rice. Nandalal produced this painting in September of 1943, the year of a devastating famine in eastern India brought on by stockpiling of rice from the region by the British to be used as rations for the Allied forces during World War II. A skeletal Siva performs his dance of destruction with an empty begging bowl made from a skull. This allegorical image shows, ironically, that there is destruction, death, and hunger in the hand of abundance." (Rhythms of India: The Art of Nandalal Bose, exhibition catalogue, Singapore, 2008, p. 138)