On Art and Aesthetics ; A Selection of Lectures, Essays and Letters

by Rabindranath Tagore

113 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1961

About the author

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 "because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West."

Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms and resisting linguistic strictures. His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to topics political and personal. Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced), and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed—or panned—for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and unnatural contemplation. His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: India's Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh's Amar Shonar Bangla.

The complete works of Rabindranath Tagore (রবীন্দ্র রচনাবলী) in the original Bengali are now available at these third-party websites:
http://www.tagoreweb.in/
http://www.rabindra-rachanabali.nltr....

Reviews

[Ayush · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant discussion on art, aesthetics, spirituality and religion. "My religion is the religion of the poet," says Tagore, and sets up claims for why it is imperative to view the world as more than material or form. There is a certain spirit that the artist is attuned to, that allows the artist to bridge the particular and the universal without abstraction.

A must-read for aesthetic educators.