Nina Hamnett (1890 – 1956) was a Welsh artist and writer, who became known as the ‘Queen of Bohemia’. Between 1906 to 1907 she studied at the Pelham Art School and then at the London School of Art until 1910. In 1914 she went to Paris, to study.

Nina returned to London, where she continued her Bohemian lifestyle that had begun in Paris.

Her artistic style was post-impressionistic and noticeably avant-garde occasionally. She was a fine portraitist as can be seen at a small exhibition dedicated to her paintings at the Tate Britain., which will continue until 23 May 2027.

Amongst the portraits at the Tate, there is one depicting an Indian. Hamnett’s studio notebook recorded the model as “Chanda”.

The Tate’s label suggests the subject was “Apurva Kuma Chanda”. ‘[Kuma’ is most probably ‘Kumar’.] Apurva was known to have been close to Nina’s circle of friends.

I became curious about him.

Apurva was a son of Indra Kumar Chanda of Silchar in northeast India – in Assam. Apurva and his brother Anil Kumar Chanda were very close to the great Bengali cultural figure Rabindranath Tagore, and promoted his work, notably his songs that became known as ‘Rabindra Sangeet’. He lived from 1893 to 1967, and would have been about 15 when Nina painted him in about 1918.

Looking at the picture, which depicts a young man with a drink in his hand, he looks like a very mature 15 year old – or, possibly, the painting is not of Apurva, but someone else.

Apurva or not, the paintings of Nina Hamnett are well worth seeing.