Abanindranath acted as the Vice-Principal of the Art School from 1905 to 1915. In this span of a decade, he successfully established his new school of art. From 1905 onwards, Nandalal Basu, Surendranath Gangopaddhaya, Asit Kumar Halder, K. Venkatappa, Samarendra Gupta, Kshitindra Nath Mazumder, Shailendra Nath Dey and distinguished men of their ilk got admitted in this school and became his disciples. All of the aforesaid artistes became illustrious painters.
The art form introduced by Abanindranath was intended to highlight the Indian events and occurences in pictorial language. Abanindranath and his mentor Havell criticized the mythological paintings of Raja Ravi Verma which were made in realistic European style. Their expressions and postures were unlike Indian. Gaganendranath and his younger sister Sunayani Devi enriched the Neo-Bengal school of painting with their innovative and refined ideas. This new mode of painting as devised by Abanindranath, had hogged the attention of the nationalist leaders from the very inception. At this stage, Ramananda Chattopaddhaya, the editor of the newspapers 'Prabasi' and 'Modern Review', came forward to promote Abanindranath's form of painting. Satish Chandra Mukhopaddhaya, another distinguished person connected with the Don Society, also came forward with a similar intention. Abanindranath's sensational painting "Buddha and Sujata" came out in the 'Prabasi' which inspired Nandalal to be his disciple. In 1919, Rabindranath Tagore converted the Brahmacharya Ashram into Biswa Bharati School. Nandalal Basu and Suren Kar were appointed as teachers in the Department of Art. Thus the neo-Bengal mode of painting went to Shantiniketan with Nandalal. There it blossomed to its fullest glory in the bosom of nature and in a highly refined cultural atmosphere.