Chapter 1 : Paintings
1. Painting is an old art in India. It is present from the Mesolithic times as can be seen from the cave art of Bhimbetaka
2. Vatsayan in his Kamasutra defines painting as one of the six limbs (shad-ang) of art
3. Vishnu-dharmottar-purana is an ancient Indian treatise on painting.
4. Indian paintings can be devided into 6 sections: Mural paintings, Miniature paintings, Folk paintings, Rangolis, Colonial era paintings, modern paintings and contemporary painters.
Mural Paintings
1. Mural paintings can be devided into cave paintings and temple paintings
2. We will study
a. Cave paintings of Bagh , Badami , Ajanta and Sitanavassal
b. Temple paintings of Ellora , Brihadeshwara temple of Tanjore and Lepakshi Temple.
Ajanta
1. The Ajanta caves were built during the period of Satavahanas and Vakataka dynasty.
2. These caves are rich in Buddhist themes,religios narratives etc.
3. The main features of Ajanta cave paintings are
a. Sure and firm movement of line
b. Use of foreshortening and use of multiple perspectives
c. There is no demarcation between the scenes. The scenes flow from and into each other.
d. The principal character of the story is shown in a size bigger than other characters
e. Use of shading and highlighting to give some parts of painting a luminous glow.
f. The human figures are slender ,well proportioned and elegant.
g. Woman have narrow waists and full breasts. Their faces are marked by arched eyebrows and elongated loti form eyes.
h. there is an intricate range of sophisticated costume, jewellery and hairstyles.
i. Emotion and pathos are expressed here by the controlled turn and poise of the body and the eloquent gestures of the hands
j. The earliest battle scenes in India are painted in Ajanta caves
k. Major paintings are: The dying princess, Buddha visiting his wife and son,Avalokitesvara Padmapani.
Bagh
1. Bagh caves are present in Madhya Pradesh
2. Bagh paintings follow those of Ajanta in style but they are more tightly modelled and have stronger outline
3. They human figures are more earthly as compared to Ajanta.
4. The Bagh paintings are not in a very good state of preservation.
Badami
1. The earliest brahmanical paintings so far are the fragments found in badami caves.
2. The paintings follow the same style as that of Ajanta and Bagh but the modelling is sensitive and the outlines are soft.
3. The Siva and Parvati painting is in a good state of preservation in the Badami caves.
Sitanavassal
1. The cave paintings of sitanavassal have mostly Jaina themes.
2. They follow the same style as that of Ajanta.
3. These paintings represent extent of penetration of the classical art of Ajanta in the Deccan.
Temple paintings
1. We will study the temple paintings of Ellora,Brihadeswara and Lepakshi temples.
2. The paintings in these temples show medieval traditions i.e figures are painted with eyes wide open as compared to the drooping eyes of Ajanta paintings.
3. Ellora
a. It has Brahmanical ,Jaina and Buddhist themes.
b. It follows medieval traditions of Indian painting.
c. The main difference between Ajanta and Ellora paintings is the sharp twists of the body and the depiction of eyes
4. Brihadeshwara
a. The paintings of Brideshwara Temple are also in the medieval tradition
b. They were painted during the time of imperial cholas.
c. They are different from Ajanta paintings in terms of modelling and style but not in terms of sensitivity
5. Lepakshi Temple
a. Lepakshi temple is in Hindupur and the paintings belong to 16th century AD.
b. The paintings have mostly saivite and secular themes
c. The paintings are in the typical medieval Indian tradition
d. The faces are shown in profile and the eyes are drawn protruding outwards.
e. The paintings are know for their bright colours
f. The boar hunt is one of the famous paintings of the Lepakshi temple.
Miniature Painting
1. The miniature paintings will be studied under three heads
a. Early medieval miniature paintings
b. Mughal miniature paintings
c. Rajput and Pahari miniature paintings
Early medieval miniature paintings
1. These were commissioned by pala rulers and were based on Buddhist themes and were drawn on palm leaves
2. It is a naturalistic style which resembles the ideal forms of contemporary bronze and stone sculpture, and reflects some feeling of the classical art of Ajanta.
3. A fine example of the typical Buddhist palm-leaf manuscript illustrated in the Pala style exists in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, England. It is a manuscript of the Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita, or the perfection of Wisdom written in eight thousand lines.
4. It was executed at the monastery of Nalanda in the fifteenth year of the reign of the Pala King, Ramapala, in the last quarter of the eleventh century
5. The other example of this style of paintings are the illustrated manuscripts of Jainta texts like Kalpasutras and other isolated works such as the one commissioned by sultan Gyasuddin of Malwa.
Mughal miniature paintings
1. The Mughal school of painting developed during the reign of Humayun when he brought two Persian painters with him:Mir sayyid Ali and Khwaja Abdus Samad.
2. It was further developed by Akbar and he started organizing painting into Karkhanas.
3. The main artists during the reign of Akbar were Daswanth and Basawan.
4. The main works commissioned by Akbar were Tuti-e-Nama , Hamza Namah,Ain-i-Akbari and Razm Namah (Persian Translation of Mahabharata)
5. The Mughal school of painting was further developed by Jahangir
6. During Jahangir’s reign ,the emphasis was on the painting of birds and animals
7. Ustad Mansur was a master painter of birds and animals.
8. Other painters in the court of Jahangir were Abul Hasan whom Jahangir gave the title of Nadir-Uz-Zaman and Bishndas who was a master painter of portraits.
9. Various European travellers ,like Thomas Roe ,visited the court of Jahangir and the Mughal school of painting was influenced by European style especially in the use of perspectives.
10. The painting was continued during the reign of Shah Jahan.But as his main interest was architecture,no new innovations in painting were made
11. As Auranzeb was a puritan,the quality and quantity of painting declined in his reign.
Rajput and Pahari miniature paintings
1. The Rajasthani and Pahari paintings are mainly based on works like Caurapanchasika,Rasikpriya,Ragmala and Gita Govinda.They mainly pictorise the characters in these paintings
2. Religious paintings contain mainly the Hindu deities.
3. Secular painting contain court and Hunting scenes of various Maharajas.
4. The Mewar school of painting under painter Sahibdin and the Patron-Artist duo of Raja Sawant Sing and Nihal chand of Kishegarh are the most famous ones.
5. The Phari paintings are mostly similar in styles and content to their Rajasthani counter parts.
6. The famous schools of Pahari paintings are Guler, Bashli and Kangra
7. All these schools betray some Mughal naturalism.However their content is different and colours are contrasting and bold.
Folk Paintings
1. We will study following folk paintings
a. Patua
b. Madhubani
c. Kalighat
d. Nathdwara
e. Pichhawi
f. Nakkashi
g. Garoda
h. Warli
i. Phad
j. Manjusha Art
Patua
1. The Patua paintings are the folk scroll paintings of West Bengal
2. They are unscrolled at the bardic recitals and are carried by wandering minstrels
3. the patuas of Bengal are low caste landless labourers who often profess a dual hindu-muslim identity.
4. One of their major themes is the cult of Satya pir and hindu god Vishnu.
5. Often the Patuas in recent years have been used by the political organizations for mass mobilization
Nakkashi
1. They are the scroll painters of Andhra Pradesh
Garoda
1. Garoda is the Gujarati tradition of narrating sacred tales from picture-scrolls.
2. Garodas are described as being a caste of Brahmin.
3. Garoda priests travel around conducting ritual narrations of sacred tales in exchange for coins, grains or flour.
4. The author provides information about the picture scrolls functioning as mobile shrines due to their recounting of tales of the deities including Parvati, Krishna, and Vishnu
Phad
1. Phad painting is a popular style of 1. folk painting, practiced in 1. Rajasthan state of 1. India.
2. This style of painting is traditionally done on a long piece of cloth, known as phad. The narratives of the folk deities of Rajasthan, mostly of 2. Pabuji and 2. Devnarayan are depicted on the phads.
3. The 3. Bhopas, the priest-singers traditionally carry the painted phads along with them and use these as the mobile temples of the folk deities.
4. Traditionally the phads are painted with vegetable colors.
5. The Joshi families of 5. Bhilwara are widely known as the traditional artists of this folk art-form for the last two centuries.
6. Presently, 6. Shree Lal Joshi, 6. Nand Kishor Joshi, Prakash Joshi and Shanti Lal Joshi are the most noted artists of the phad painting, who are known for their innovations and creativity.
Nathdwara
1. refers to a painting tradition and school of artists that emerged in 1. Nathdwara, a town in 1. Rajsamand district in the Western state of 1. Rajasthan in India
2. The Nathdwara school is a subset of the 2. Mewar school of painting and is seen as an important school in the 17th and 18th century 2. miniature paintings.
Pichhawi
1. It is a subset of Nathdwara school of painting
2. The word Pichwai derives from the 2. Sanskrit words pich meaning black and wais meaning hanging.
3. These paintings are cloth paintings hung behind the image of the 3. Hindu god 3. Shrinathji.
4. The temple of Shrinathji is believed to have provided a boost to the art activities in the town. It is recorded that to avoid the oppression of the 4. iconoclast 4. Mughal emperor 4. Aurangzeb, the image of Shrinathji, a child manifestation of 4. Krishna was installed in Nathdwara in 1670 by Goswami priests from 4. Mathura. After this, many artists, including the famous Acharya Gopinathji, motivated by religious fervor came and created paintings of Srinathji.
5. Most works produced in this style revolve around the figure of Shrinathji as a manifestation of 5. Krishna and refer to the incident of him holding the 5. Govardhan hill on his last finger. Each pichwai painting is considered a seva or an offering to the deity and hence personifies Shrinathji as a prince with jewels and luxuries, surrounded by the milkmaids, 5. gopis.
6. These seva themes are based on different seasons and paintings are made to depict different moods of the season.
7. There are also paintings that show the Lord in different costumes celebrating different festivals. Other themes like Mata Yashoda, Nandlal and Balgopal figures are also painted in this style.Some of the paintings are gem-encrusted.
Madhubani
1. These paintings are found in the Mithila region of Bihar.
2. These are made on house walls which are made of perishable materials like bamboo,whattle and daub.
3. These contain scenes from epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana
4. They are generally done by the women members of the house hold.
Kalighat
1. They developed from the patua style of painting
2. The britishers came to Calcutta and started showing interest in arts
3. They started training schools in Calcutta
4. The patua painters came to Calcutta and learned from new European styles
5. These artists settled around Kalighat temple and thus was born the Kalighat school of painting which was a blen of Bengali and European styles.
6. The charm of the Kalighat paintings lies in the fact that they captured the essence of daily life and they influence modern artistes like the late Jamini Roy even to this day.
Warli
1. Warli painting is a tribal of art Maharashtra.
2. The women paint the inner ,darkest walls of wedding chamber with red ochre and rice paste.
3. These nuptial paintings follow a complex process accompanied by various rites
4. Their main subject is Palaghata,the warli godess of fertility.
5. The humiliation of the black fertility godess by the hands of Vedic god Indra is a common theme.
6. Warli men and women also produce secular paintings like caukat,a pictogram centering on the square,which stands for the four corners of the earth.
7. The square is enclosed by geometric shapes and natural scenery rendered in the Neolithic art styles
Manjusha Art
1. Manjushas are temple-shaped boxes, Containg 8 -Pillars.They are made of bamboo,jute and paper.They also contains Painting of Gods and Goddesses and Other Characters.These boxes are used in Bishahari puja -A festival Dedicated to Snake God,Celebrated in 1. Bhagalpur,India.
2. Legends says that five daugheters of Lord 2. Shiva -Maina, Bhawani, Devi, Padma and Jaya known as Bishahari (Meaning Person carrying Poison). They requested to Workship earth Which Shiva granted and This Festival of Bishari started.
3. Manjusha Art is one of the very old and historically very important Art which is expression wise not less than Madhubani Art or any art of India.
4. Manjusha Art or Manjusha Kala is often referred to as 4. Snake Paintings by foreigners as swirling snakes in the art depict the central character Bihula’s tale of love and sacrifice.4. [2]
Rangolis
1. The domestic art of floor painting with variant forms in different regions such as alpna is West Bengal,rangoli in Maharashtra and kolam in south india is associated with ceremonies marking various rites such as birth,puberty,marriage and death.
2. Women teach alpna to girls to enable them to perform wish fulfillment rituals (brata),such as obtaining suitable husbands
3. Part of the ceremony consists of drawing with fingers on the floor with colours made of rice powder and other natural substances
4. There is an emphasis on balace and symmetry based on natural forms such as leaves and flowers
Art During the colonial Era
1. This can be studied under following heads
a. Company style painting
b. Art of Raja Ravi Verma
c. Bengal School of Art
Company Style Painting
1. During the 18th and 19th century ,the Indian art was on the decline
2. Indian artists were increasingly used by British for wide ranging economic surveys and documentation of natural history
3. British residents commissioned paintings of flora and fauna from Indian artists who were trained in western techniques such as perspective and chiaroscuro.
4. Thus Indian artists trained in European techniques and working for European clients gave rise to the company school of painting.
5. Shaikh Mohammad Amir of Karaya was a famous artist belonging to company school of painting.
Art of Raja Ravi Verma
1. Raja Ravi verma was a prince of Trvancore
2. He learned painting watching European painters paint in the court
3. He revived the Indian art by making painting on Indian subjects in western style
4. His main subjects were epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata.
5. He mass produced his paintings using oleography and hence his paintings were able to reach the common man
6. He was opposed by the artists of the Bengal School because they considered his paintings were of bad taste
Bengal School of Art
1. The Bengal School of Art took shape under the guidance of E B Havell
2. E B Havell wanted to revive the Indian art
3. The Bengal school of artists were heavily under the influence of theosophic movements
4. They went to the extent of denouncing the paintings of artists like Raja Ravi Verma who applied European naturalism to their paintings.
5. Abandrinath Tagore was introduced to the minute details of Mughal paintings by E B Havell
6. Japanese Artist Kakuzo Okakura came to India because he wanted to forge a pan Asian art movement
7. His disciples Yokoyama Taikan and Hishido Shinso started working with Abandrinath Tagore
8. Abandrinath Tagore’s work which betrayed Japanese Influence was published in Japanese art magazine Koka
9. His famous painting is that of Bharat Mata produced during the Swadeshi Movement
Modernist Paintings
1. The modernist paintings can be studied under following heads
a. Cubism
b. Primitive school
Cubism
1. What is Cubism ?
There was a technique prevalent in Europe known as ‘directional Lightening’ which used various shades to link the various objects of lightening.Cubism was a technique by which the solidity of the object was destroyed by setting up conflicting relations of light and shadow within a picture frame
2. Ganganendranath Tagore was the first artist in India that introduced and heavily experimented with Analytical cubism
Primitive School
1. This school of painting developed during the Indian freedom struggle
2. The artists of these schools took inspiration from the folk and tribal cultures of India
3. Under this school we will study work of three artists
a. Rabindra Nath Tagore
b. Amrita Sher Gill
c. Jaiminy Roy
Rabindra Nath Tagore
1. He took up painting as an untrained artist at the age of 67
2. He developed this art while experimenting with letters from Bengali script and various folds of pages
3. He was heavily influenced by the tribal art like that of the Santhals
4. As he had received no formal education in painting, he proved to be one of the most radical painters of India
Amrita Sher Gill
1. She was born in a sikh aristocratic family to a Hungarian mother and was trained in European art styles
2. She came to india and was highly influenced by the Indian tribal art
3. She radically experimented using Hungarian and Indian styles and also started developing a new style which used thick textures
4. The emotions in her painting are clearly visible such as in the painting ‘the child bride’.
Jaimini Roy
1. He was trained by the doyens of Bengal School of art
2. He experimented with various styles but finally based his paintings on the Kalighat style of painting
3. He stopped using oil colors and started using vegetable and earth colors
4. Finally he started developing on the patua style as he felt that it was more closer to the rural people.
Contemporary Painters
1. Under this we will study work of following painters
a. Maqbool Fida Hussain
b. Syed Haider Raza
c. Francis Newton Souza
d. K G Ramanujan
Maqbool Fida Hussain
1. He used to paint film boards and from there he rose to be the undisputed leader of modern Indian art
2. He was one of the most radical painters of India.
Syed Haider Raza
1. He used tantric philosophies as subject of his paintings
Francis Newton Souza
1. He was mostly known for his painting of nude women
K G Ramanujan
1. He was born in the Cholamandalam village
2. His art reflected the culture of his village such as the large sizes of the male and female figures which represent the papier mache puppets carried in religios processions of Tamil nadu.
1. Painting is an old art in India. It is present from the Mesolithic times as can be seen from the cave art of Bhimbetaka
2. Vatsayan in his Kamasutra defines painting as one of the six limbs (shad-ang) of art
3. Vishnu-dharmottar-purana is an ancient Indian treatise on painting.
4. Indian paintings can be devided into 6 sections: Mural paintings, Miniature paintings, Folk paintings, Rangolis, Colonial era paintings, modern paintings and contemporary painters.
Mural Paintings
1. Mural paintings can be devided into cave paintings and temple paintings
2. We will study
a. Cave paintings of Bagh , Badami , Ajanta and Sitanavassal
b. Temple paintings of Ellora , Brihadeshwara temple of Tanjore and Lepakshi Temple.
Ajanta
1. The Ajanta caves were built during the period of Satavahanas and Vakataka dynasty.
2. These caves are rich in Buddhist themes,religios narratives etc.
3. The main features of Ajanta cave paintings are
a. Sure and firm movement of line
b. Use of foreshortening and use of multiple perspectives
c. There is no demarcation between the scenes. The scenes flow from and into each other.
d. The principal character of the story is shown in a size bigger than other characters
e. Use of shading and highlighting to give some parts of painting a luminous glow.
f. The human figures are slender ,well proportioned and elegant.
g. Woman have narrow waists and full breasts. Their faces are marked by arched eyebrows and elongated loti form eyes.
h. there is an intricate range of sophisticated costume, jewellery and hairstyles.
i. Emotion and pathos are expressed here by the controlled turn and poise of the body and the eloquent gestures of the hands
j. The earliest battle scenes in India are painted in Ajanta caves
k. Major paintings are: The dying princess, Buddha visiting his wife and son,Avalokitesvara Padmapani.
Bagh
1. Bagh caves are present in Madhya Pradesh
2. Bagh paintings follow those of Ajanta in style but they are more tightly modelled and have stronger outline
3. They human figures are more earthly as compared to Ajanta.
4. The Bagh paintings are not in a very good state of preservation.
Badami
1. The earliest brahmanical paintings so far are the fragments found in badami caves.
2. The paintings follow the same style as that of Ajanta and Bagh but the modelling is sensitive and the outlines are soft.
3. The Siva and Parvati painting is in a good state of preservation in the Badami caves.
Sitanavassal
1. The cave paintings of sitanavassal have mostly Jaina themes.
2. They follow the same style as that of Ajanta.
3. These paintings represent extent of penetration of the classical art of Ajanta in the Deccan.
Temple paintings
1. We will study the temple paintings of Ellora,Brihadeswara and Lepakshi temples.
2. The paintings in these temples show medieval traditions i.e figures are painted with eyes wide open as compared to the drooping eyes of Ajanta paintings.
3. Ellora
a. It has Brahmanical ,Jaina and Buddhist themes.
b. It follows medieval traditions of Indian painting.
c. The main difference between Ajanta and Ellora paintings is the sharp twists of the body and the depiction of eyes
4. Brihadeshwara
a. The paintings of Brideshwara Temple are also in the medieval tradition
b. They were painted during the time of imperial cholas.
c. They are different from Ajanta paintings in terms of modelling and style but not in terms of sensitivity
5. Lepakshi Temple
a. Lepakshi temple is in Hindupur and the paintings belong to 16th century AD.
b. The paintings have mostly saivite and secular themes
c. The paintings are in the typical medieval Indian tradition
d. The faces are shown in profile and the eyes are drawn protruding outwards.
e. The paintings are know for their bright colours
f. The boar hunt is one of the famous paintings of the Lepakshi temple.
Miniature Painting
1. The miniature paintings will be studied under three heads
a. Early medieval miniature paintings
b. Mughal miniature paintings
c. Rajput and Pahari miniature paintings
Early medieval miniature paintings
1. These were commissioned by pala rulers and were based on Buddhist themes and were drawn on palm leaves
2. It is a naturalistic style which resembles the ideal forms of contemporary bronze and stone sculpture, and reflects some feeling of the classical art of Ajanta.
3. A fine example of the typical Buddhist palm-leaf manuscript illustrated in the Pala style exists in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, England. It is a manuscript of the Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita, or the perfection of Wisdom written in eight thousand lines.
4. It was executed at the monastery of Nalanda in the fifteenth year of the reign of the Pala King, Ramapala, in the last quarter of the eleventh century
5. The other example of this style of paintings are the illustrated manuscripts of Jainta texts like Kalpasutras and other isolated works such as the one commissioned by sultan Gyasuddin of Malwa.
Mughal miniature paintings
1. The Mughal school of painting developed during the reign of Humayun when he brought two Persian painters with him:Mir sayyid Ali and Khwaja Abdus Samad.
2. It was further developed by Akbar and he started organizing painting into Karkhanas.
3. The main artists during the reign of Akbar were Daswanth and Basawan.
4. The main works commissioned by Akbar were Tuti-e-Nama , Hamza Namah,Ain-i-Akbari and Razm Namah (Persian Translation of Mahabharata)
5. The Mughal school of painting was further developed by Jahangir
6. During Jahangir’s reign ,the emphasis was on the painting of birds and animals
7. Ustad Mansur was a master painter of birds and animals.
8. Other painters in the court of Jahangir were Abul Hasan whom Jahangir gave the title of Nadir-Uz-Zaman and Bishndas who was a master painter of portraits.
9. Various European travellers ,like Thomas Roe ,visited the court of Jahangir and the Mughal school of painting was influenced by European style especially in the use of perspectives.
10. The painting was continued during the reign of Shah Jahan.But as his main interest was architecture,no new innovations in painting were made
11. As Auranzeb was a puritan,the quality and quantity of painting declined in his reign.
Rajput and Pahari miniature paintings
1. The Rajasthani and Pahari paintings are mainly based on works like Caurapanchasika,Rasikpriya,Ragmala and Gita Govinda.They mainly pictorise the characters in these paintings
2. Religious paintings contain mainly the Hindu deities.
3. Secular painting contain court and Hunting scenes of various Maharajas.
4. The Mewar school of painting under painter Sahibdin and the Patron-Artist duo of Raja Sawant Sing and Nihal chand of Kishegarh are the most famous ones.
5. The Phari paintings are mostly similar in styles and content to their Rajasthani counter parts.
6. The famous schools of Pahari paintings are Guler, Bashli and Kangra
7. All these schools betray some Mughal naturalism.However their content is different and colours are contrasting and bold.
Folk Paintings
1. We will study following folk paintings
a. Patua
b. Madhubani
c. Kalighat
d. Nathdwara
e. Pichhawi
f. Nakkashi
g. Garoda
h. Warli
i. Phad
j. Manjusha Art
Patua
1. The Patua paintings are the folk scroll paintings of West Bengal
2. They are unscrolled at the bardic recitals and are carried by wandering minstrels
3. the patuas of Bengal are low caste landless labourers who often profess a dual hindu-muslim identity.
4. One of their major themes is the cult of Satya pir and hindu god Vishnu.
5. Often the Patuas in recent years have been used by the political organizations for mass mobilization
Nakkashi
1. They are the scroll painters of Andhra Pradesh
Garoda
1. Garoda is the Gujarati tradition of narrating sacred tales from picture-scrolls.
2. Garodas are described as being a caste of Brahmin.
3. Garoda priests travel around conducting ritual narrations of sacred tales in exchange for coins, grains or flour.
4. The author provides information about the picture scrolls functioning as mobile shrines due to their recounting of tales of the deities including Parvati, Krishna, and Vishnu
Phad
1. Phad painting is a popular style of 1. folk painting, practiced in 1. Rajasthan state of 1. India.
2. This style of painting is traditionally done on a long piece of cloth, known as phad. The narratives of the folk deities of Rajasthan, mostly of 2. Pabuji and 2. Devnarayan are depicted on the phads.
3. The 3. Bhopas, the priest-singers traditionally carry the painted phads along with them and use these as the mobile temples of the folk deities.
4. Traditionally the phads are painted with vegetable colors.
5. The Joshi families of 5. Bhilwara are widely known as the traditional artists of this folk art-form for the last two centuries.
6. Presently, 6. Shree Lal Joshi, 6. Nand Kishor Joshi, Prakash Joshi and Shanti Lal Joshi are the most noted artists of the phad painting, who are known for their innovations and creativity.
Nathdwara
1. refers to a painting tradition and school of artists that emerged in 1. Nathdwara, a town in 1. Rajsamand district in the Western state of 1. Rajasthan in India
2. The Nathdwara school is a subset of the 2. Mewar school of painting and is seen as an important school in the 17th and 18th century 2. miniature paintings.
Pichhawi
1. It is a subset of Nathdwara school of painting
2. The word Pichwai derives from the 2. Sanskrit words pich meaning black and wais meaning hanging.
3. These paintings are cloth paintings hung behind the image of the 3. Hindu god 3. Shrinathji.
4. The temple of Shrinathji is believed to have provided a boost to the art activities in the town. It is recorded that to avoid the oppression of the 4. iconoclast 4. Mughal emperor 4. Aurangzeb, the image of Shrinathji, a child manifestation of 4. Krishna was installed in Nathdwara in 1670 by Goswami priests from 4. Mathura. After this, many artists, including the famous Acharya Gopinathji, motivated by religious fervor came and created paintings of Srinathji.
5. Most works produced in this style revolve around the figure of Shrinathji as a manifestation of 5. Krishna and refer to the incident of him holding the 5. Govardhan hill on his last finger. Each pichwai painting is considered a seva or an offering to the deity and hence personifies Shrinathji as a prince with jewels and luxuries, surrounded by the milkmaids, 5. gopis.
6. These seva themes are based on different seasons and paintings are made to depict different moods of the season.
7. There are also paintings that show the Lord in different costumes celebrating different festivals. Other themes like Mata Yashoda, Nandlal and Balgopal figures are also painted in this style.Some of the paintings are gem-encrusted.
Madhubani
1. These paintings are found in the Mithila region of Bihar.
2. These are made on house walls which are made of perishable materials like bamboo,whattle and daub.
3. These contain scenes from epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana
4. They are generally done by the women members of the house hold.
Kalighat
1. They developed from the patua style of painting
2. The britishers came to Calcutta and started showing interest in arts
3. They started training schools in Calcutta
4. The patua painters came to Calcutta and learned from new European styles
5. These artists settled around Kalighat temple and thus was born the Kalighat school of painting which was a blen of Bengali and European styles.
6. The charm of the Kalighat paintings lies in the fact that they captured the essence of daily life and they influence modern artistes like the late Jamini Roy even to this day.
Warli
1. Warli painting is a tribal of art Maharashtra.
2. The women paint the inner ,darkest walls of wedding chamber with red ochre and rice paste.
3. These nuptial paintings follow a complex process accompanied by various rites
4. Their main subject is Palaghata,the warli godess of fertility.
5. The humiliation of the black fertility godess by the hands of Vedic god Indra is a common theme.
6. Warli men and women also produce secular paintings like caukat,a pictogram centering on the square,which stands for the four corners of the earth.
7. The square is enclosed by geometric shapes and natural scenery rendered in the Neolithic art styles
Manjusha Art
1. Manjushas are temple-shaped boxes, Containg 8 -Pillars.They are made of bamboo,jute and paper.They also contains Painting of Gods and Goddesses and Other Characters.These boxes are used in Bishahari puja -A festival Dedicated to Snake God,Celebrated in 1. Bhagalpur,India.
2. Legends says that five daugheters of Lord 2. Shiva -Maina, Bhawani, Devi, Padma and Jaya known as Bishahari (Meaning Person carrying Poison). They requested to Workship earth Which Shiva granted and This Festival of Bishari started.
3. Manjusha Art is one of the very old and historically very important Art which is expression wise not less than Madhubani Art or any art of India.
4. Manjusha Art or Manjusha Kala is often referred to as 4. Snake Paintings by foreigners as swirling snakes in the art depict the central character Bihula’s tale of love and sacrifice.4. [2]
Rangolis
1. The domestic art of floor painting with variant forms in different regions such as alpna is West Bengal,rangoli in Maharashtra and kolam in south india is associated with ceremonies marking various rites such as birth,puberty,marriage and death.
2. Women teach alpna to girls to enable them to perform wish fulfillment rituals (brata),such as obtaining suitable husbands
3. Part of the ceremony consists of drawing with fingers on the floor with colours made of rice powder and other natural substances
4. There is an emphasis on balace and symmetry based on natural forms such as leaves and flowers
Art During the colonial Era
1. This can be studied under following heads
a. Company style painting
b. Art of Raja Ravi Verma
c. Bengal School of Art
Company Style Painting
1. During the 18th and 19th century ,the Indian art was on the decline
2. Indian artists were increasingly used by British for wide ranging economic surveys and documentation of natural history
3. British residents commissioned paintings of flora and fauna from Indian artists who were trained in western techniques such as perspective and chiaroscuro.
4. Thus Indian artists trained in European techniques and working for European clients gave rise to the company school of painting.
5. Shaikh Mohammad Amir of Karaya was a famous artist belonging to company school of painting.
Art of Raja Ravi Verma
1. Raja Ravi verma was a prince of Trvancore
2. He learned painting watching European painters paint in the court
3. He revived the Indian art by making painting on Indian subjects in western style
4. His main subjects were epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata.
5. He mass produced his paintings using oleography and hence his paintings were able to reach the common man
6. He was opposed by the artists of the Bengal School because they considered his paintings were of bad taste
Bengal School of Art
1. The Bengal School of Art took shape under the guidance of E B Havell
2. E B Havell wanted to revive the Indian art
3. The Bengal school of artists were heavily under the influence of theosophic movements
4. They went to the extent of denouncing the paintings of artists like Raja Ravi Verma who applied European naturalism to their paintings.
5. Abandrinath Tagore was introduced to the minute details of Mughal paintings by E B Havell
6. Japanese Artist Kakuzo Okakura came to India because he wanted to forge a pan Asian art movement
7. His disciples Yokoyama Taikan and Hishido Shinso started working with Abandrinath Tagore
8. Abandrinath Tagore’s work which betrayed Japanese Influence was published in Japanese art magazine Koka
9. His famous painting is that of Bharat Mata produced during the Swadeshi Movement
Modernist Paintings
1. The modernist paintings can be studied under following heads
a. Cubism
b. Primitive school
Cubism
1. What is Cubism ?
There was a technique prevalent in Europe known as ‘directional Lightening’ which used various shades to link the various objects of lightening.Cubism was a technique by which the solidity of the object was destroyed by setting up conflicting relations of light and shadow within a picture frame
2. Ganganendranath Tagore was the first artist in India that introduced and heavily experimented with Analytical cubism
Primitive School
1. This school of painting developed during the Indian freedom struggle
2. The artists of these schools took inspiration from the folk and tribal cultures of India
3. Under this school we will study work of three artists
a. Rabindra Nath Tagore
b. Amrita Sher Gill
c. Jaiminy Roy
Rabindra Nath Tagore
1. He took up painting as an untrained artist at the age of 67
2. He developed this art while experimenting with letters from Bengali script and various folds of pages
3. He was heavily influenced by the tribal art like that of the Santhals
4. As he had received no formal education in painting, he proved to be one of the most radical painters of India
Amrita Sher Gill
1. She was born in a sikh aristocratic family to a Hungarian mother and was trained in European art styles
2. She came to india and was highly influenced by the Indian tribal art
3. She radically experimented using Hungarian and Indian styles and also started developing a new style which used thick textures
4. The emotions in her painting are clearly visible such as in the painting ‘the child bride’.
Jaimini Roy
1. He was trained by the doyens of Bengal School of art
2. He experimented with various styles but finally based his paintings on the Kalighat style of painting
3. He stopped using oil colors and started using vegetable and earth colors
4. Finally he started developing on the patua style as he felt that it was more closer to the rural people.
Contemporary Painters
1. Under this we will study work of following painters
a. Maqbool Fida Hussain
b. Syed Haider Raza
c. Francis Newton Souza
d. K G Ramanujan
Maqbool Fida Hussain
1. He used to paint film boards and from there he rose to be the undisputed leader of modern Indian art
2. He was one of the most radical painters of India.
Syed Haider Raza
1. He used tantric philosophies as subject of his paintings
Francis Newton Souza
1. He was mostly known for his painting of nude women
K G Ramanujan
1. He was born in the Cholamandalam village
2. His art reflected the culture of his village such as the large sizes of the male and female figures which represent the papier mache puppets carried in religios processions of Tamil nadu.
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