This richly illustrated book explores the contested history of art and nationalism in the tumultuous last decades of British rule in India. Western avant-grade art inspired a powerful weapon of resistance among India's artists in their struggle against colonial repression, and it is this complex interplay of Western modernism and Indian nationalism that forms the core of this book. With a fascinating array of art work, the book throws much light on a previously neglected strand of modern art, and challenges the dominance of Western modernism.