Edinburgh College of Art, 74 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh EH3 9DF
Records of Finandra Nath Bose’s time at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) exist from 1908, and he was awarded his diploma in 1911. Born in Calcutta, India, Finandra Nath Bose trained as a sculptor at ECA under Percy Portsmouth. Portsmouth recalled that, “Bose excelled in small sculpture; he had a phenomenal control of minutiae […] he was an excellent craftsman, a true artist, showing delicacy and taste in everything he did.” After completing his studies at Edinburgh, Bose moved to Paris to work under Auguste Rodin. He became part of the “new sculpture movement” in Britain, whose small figurative statues focused on realism, movement, and symbolism. Bose’s sculptures can be seen in multiple locations across Scotland, including a War Memorial (1925) on the Main Street of Ormiston, East Lothian, as well as ‘St John the Baptist,’ designed for St John’s Church, Perth. He has been described as the first Indian to achieve recognition in Britain and was one of the first international artists to become a member of the Royal Scottish Academy.
