RABINDRANATH TAGORE (1861-1941)

Rabindranath Tagore's seal comprises an artistic rendering of his initials in the Bengali script, Ra and Tha, incorporated in such a way that the final image resembles an almost tribal motif. This particular drawing may be one of the artist's later meditations on the design, which was eventually carved as a wooden seal for him by his son, Rathindranath.

"As early as 1900, we come across attempts by Rabindranath to work his Bengali initials into a kind of logo design. The earliest attempts are in the Kshanika manuscript [...] These initials are scattered in many of his manuscripts. And when he started creating individual paintings, around 1927, we find these logo-like designs below the paintings on the mount. The final design was completed around 1929-30 [...] The design has a striking resemblance to the salmon-trout motif so common to the Haida of the Pacific Northwest. Rabindranath may have found in this ovoid structure a perfect form for his design." (S. Roy and S. Adhikary, Rabindranath Tagore: His World of Art, New Delhi, 2014, p. 192)