The golden pillar of Indian Art – Nandalal was the most favourite student of Silpacharya Abanindranath Tagore. The major contribution of Nandalal to the Indian art of his period was that he reasserted the importance of form.

In 1920 Rabindranath Tagore took him from Calcutta to Santiniketan and gave him the charge of his Art School Kala-Bhavana. A sincere teacher and sensitive artist Nandalal was invited by Mahatma Gandhi to set up Art Exhibitions for Indian National Congress several times.

Acharya Nandalal received several awards including Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan and Bharat Ratna – the highest civilian award of India.