Cultural Revival and Artistic Consciousness: Tagore and Okakura Tenshin

The paper is about the contributions made by two influential cultural leaders Rabindranath Tagore and Okakura Tenshin to revitalize the awareness of cultural and artistic consciousness in their particular societies. Tagore was an Indian polymath and Okakura was a Japanese philosopher and art historian, and was greatly involved in the act of transforming his culture in the era of social and political upheaval. Tagore's writing, singing, and painting made a contribution to an ethos of universal humanism that aimed to revive the link between the Indian society and its own traditional cultural heritage and also got inspiration from the cultural trends all over the world. Similarly, Okakura philosophy of art and culture was all about preserving the traditional Japanese aesthetics against the tide of westernizations. Both of these people, even though they came from different cultural backgrounds, stressed the need for the revival of the culture in an increasingly globalized world. By comparing the different methods they use to preserve culture and their art, this paper illuminates the similarities between their thought process and artistic philosophy. It also looks at how their works continue to inspire and influence cultural movements today making a case for the relevance of their ideas in the global discourse on art and culture today.