Indian painting has a very long tradition and history in
Indian art, though because of the climatic conditions very few early examples survive.
[Blurton, 193] The earliest Indian paintings were the rock paintings of
prehistoric times, such as the
petroglyphs found in places like
Bhimbetka rock shelters
The Bhimbetka rock shelters are an archaeological site in central India that spans the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods, as well as the historic period. It exhibits the earliest traces of human life in India and evidence of Stone Age star ...
. Some of the Stone Age
rock paintings
In archaeology, rock art is human-made markings placed on natural surfaces, typically vertical stone surfaces. A high proportion of surviving historic and prehistoric rock art is found in caves or partly enclosed rock shelters; this type also m ...
found among the Bhimbetka rock shelters are approximately 10,000 years old.
India's ancient
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
and
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
literature has many mentions of palaces and other buildings decorated with paintings (''
chitra''), but the paintings of the
Ajanta Caves are the most significant of the few ones which survive. Smaller scale painting in manuscripts was probably also practised in this period, though the earliest survivals are from the medieval period.
A new style emerged in the Mughal era as a fusion of the
Persian miniature
A Persian miniature ( Persian: نگارگری ایرانی ''negârgari Irâni'') is a small Persian painting on paper, whether a book illustration or a separate work of art intended to be kept in an album of such works called a '' muraqqa''. T ...
with older Indian traditions, and from the 17th century its style was diffused across Indian princely courts of all religions, each developing a local style.
Company paintings were made for British clients under the
British raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was him ...
, which from the 19th century also introduced
art school
An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-second ...
s along Western lines. This led to modern Indian painting, which is increasingly returning to its Indian roots.
![Swarna Chitrakar - Kolkata 2014-02-14 3080](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Swarna_Chitrakar_-_Kolkata_2014-02-14_3080.JPG)
Indian paintings can be broadly classified as murals, miniatures and paintings on cloth. Murals are large works executed on the walls of solid structures, as in the
Ajanta Caves and the Kailashnath temple.
Miniature painting Miniature painting may refer to:
* Miniature (illuminated manuscript), a small illustration used to decorate an illuminated manuscript
* Persian miniature, a small painting on paper in the Persian tradition, for a book or album
* Ottoman miniature, ...
s are executed on a very small scale for books or albums on perishable material such as paper and cloth. Traces of murals, in
fresco-like techniques, survive in a number of sites with
Indian rock-cut architecture
Indian rock-cut architecture is more various and found in greater abundance in that country than any other form of rock-cut architecture around the world. Rock-cut architecture is the practice of creating a structure by carving it out of solid n ...
, going back at least 2,000 years, but the 1st and 5th-century remains at the
Ajanta Caves are much the most significant.
Paintings on cloth were often produced in a more popular context, often as
folk art
Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative. The makers of folk art are typically tr ...
, used for example by travelling reciters of epic poetry, such as the
Bhopa
The Bhopa people are the priest-singers of the folk deities in the state of Rajasthan, India. They perform in front of a scroll, known as (''par'' in the Rajasthani language) that depicts the episodes of the narrative of the folk deity and fu ...
s of
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...
and
Chitrakathi The Chitrakathi is the name of an occupational caste whose traditional livelihood was to narrate stories aided with pictures sojourning various places.
History
The term ''Chitrakathi'' is the conjunction of two words: ''chitra'' meaning picture ...
elsewhere, and bought as souvenirs of pilgrimages. Very few survivals are older than about 200 years, but it is clear the traditions are much older. Some regional traditions are still producing works.
Overview of the main genres
It seems clear that miniature painting, often illustrating manuscripts, has a very long history, but
Jain
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...
miniatures from about the 12th century, mostly from West India, and slightly earlier Buddhist ones from the
Pala Empire
The Pāla Empire (r. 750-1161 CE) was an imperial power during the post-classical period in the Indian subcontinent, which originated in the region of Bengal. It is named after its ruling dynasty, whose rulers bore names ending with the suffi ...
in the east are the oldest to survive. Similar Hindu illustrations survive from about the 15th century in the west, and 16th century in East India, by which time the Mughal miniature under
Akbar was also sometimes illustrating translations into Persian of the Hindu epics and other subjects.
The great period of Mughal court painting begins with the return of
Humayun
Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad ( fa, ) (; 6 March 1508 – 27 January 1556), better known by his regnal name, Humāyūn; (), was the second emperor of the Mughal Empire, who ruled over territory in what is now Eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan, Northe ...
from exile in Persia 1555, bringing Persian artists with him. It ends during the reign of
Aurangzeb who rather disapproved of painting for religious reasons, and disbanded the large imperial workshop, by perhaps 1670. The artists dispersed to smaller princely courts, both Muslim and Hindu, and the "post-Mughal" style developed in many local variants. These included different Rajasthani schools of painting like the Bundi, Kishangarh, Jaipur, Marwar and Mewar. The Ragamala paintings also belong to this school, as does the later
Company painting produced for British clients from the mid-18th century.
Modern Indian art has seen the rise of the Bengal School of art in 1930s followed by many forms of experimentations in European and Indian styles. In the aftermath of India's independence, many new genres of art developed by important artists like Jamini Roy,
M. F. Husain
Maqbool Fida Husain (17 September 1915 – 9 June 2011) was an Indian artist known for executing bold, vibrantly coloured narrative paintings in a modified Cubist style. He was one of the most celebrated and internationally recognised Ind ...
,
Francis Newton Souza
Francis Newton Souza (12 April 1924 – 28 March 2002) was an Indian-American British Asian artist. He was a founding member of the Progressive Artists' Group of Bombay. Souza's style exhibited both decadence and primitivism.
Early life and ...
, and
Vasudeo S. Gaitonde
Vasudeo S. Gaitonde (1924 – 10 August 2001), also known as V. S. Gaitonde, was regarded as one of India's foremost abstract painters. He received the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1971.
Early life and education
Gaitonde was born ...
. With the progress of the economy the forms and styles of art also underwent many changes. In the 1990s, Indian economy was liberalised and integrated to the world economy leading to the free flow of cultural information within and without. Artists include
Subodh Gupta,
Atul Dodiya
Atul Dodiya (born 20 January 1959, in Ghatkopar, Mumbai, India) is an Indian artist.
Biography
Atul began exhibiting and selling his work in the early 1980s following his graduation from Sir J. J. School of Art in Mumbai where he received a B ...
,
Devajyoti Ray
Devajyoti Ray is an Indian painter and installation artist whose works attained significance
in the post-liberalization phase of the Indian economy. His works have been exhibited internationally and have been acquired by many art academies. De ...
,
Bose Krishnamachari
Bose Krishnamachari is a Malayali painter and artist-curator based in Mumbai, India. He was born in 1963 at Magattukara village near Angamaly, Kerala. He had done his early schooling at GHSS Puliyanam. He took his BFA from Sir J J School of ...
and
Jitish Kallat
Jitish Kallat (born 1974, Mumbai) is an Indian contemporary artist. He lives and works in Mumbai, India.
The ...
whose works went for auction in international markets. Bharti Dayal has chosen to handle the traditional
Mithila painting
Mithila painting is a style of painting practiced in the Mithila region of India and Nepal. Artists create these paintings using a variety of mediums, including their own fingers, or twigs, brushes, nib-pens, and matchstick. The paint is crea ...
in most contemporary way and created her own style through the exercises of her own imagination, they appear fresh and unusual.
History of Indian painting
Prehistoric rock art
The pre-historic paintings were generally executed on rocks and these rock engravings were called
petroglyphs. These paintings generally depict animal like bison, bear and tigers etc. The oldest Indian paintings are rock art in caves which are around 30,000 years old, such as the
Bhimbetka cave paintings
The Bhimbetka rock shelters are an archaeological site in central India that spans the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods, as well as the historic period. It exhibits the earliest traces of human life in India and evidence of Stone Age start ...
.
Literature
There are many important dedicated Indian treatises on painting, traditionally called ''chitra''. Some of these are chapters within a larger encyclopedia-like texts. They date between the 4th and 13th-century CE. These include:
*''Chitrasutras'', chapters 35–43 within the Hindu text ''
Vishnudharmottara Purana
The Vishnudharmottara Purana (or the ''Vishnudharmottara'') is a Hindu Sanskrit text in the '' Upapuranas'' genre. Like the ''Mahapuranas'', it is also encyclopedic covering a wide range of secular and religious topics in the traditions of Hinduis ...
'' (the standard, and oft referred to text in the Indian tradition)
*''Chitralaksana'' of Nagnajit (a classic on classical painting, 5th-century CE or earlier making it the oldest known text on Indian painting; but the Sanskrit version has been lost, only version available is in Tibet and it states that it is a translation of a Sanskrit text)
*''
Samarangana Sutradhara'' (mostly architecture treatise, contains a large section on paintings)
*''
Aparajitaprccha'' (mostly architecture treatise, contains a large section on paintings)
*''
Manasollasa
The ' also known as ''Abhilashitartha Chintamani'', is an early 12th-century Sanskrit text composed by the Kalyani Chalukya king Someshvara III, who ruled in present-day Karnataka . It is an encyclopedic work covering topics such as polity, gove ...
'' (an encyclopedia, contains chapters on paintings)
*''Abhilashitartha chinatamani''
*''Sivatatva ratnakara''
*''Chitra Kaladruma''
*''Silpa ratna''
*''Narada silpa''
*''Sarasvati silpa''
*''Prajapati silpa''
*''Kasyapa silpa''
These and other texts on painting discuss the Indian ideas, theory and practice of painting, its relationship to other arts, methods of preparing the canvas or wall, recipes to make color pigments and other topics.
Murals
![Meister des Mahâjanaka Jâtaka 001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Meister_des_Mah%C3%A2janaka_J%C3%A2taka_001.jpg)
The
history of Indian murals starts in ancient and early medieval times, from the 2nd century BC to 8th – 10th century AD. There are known more than 20 locations around India containing murals from this period, mainly natural caves and rock-cut chambers. These include the caves of
Ajanta,
Bagh
Bagh ( fa, باغ, link=no, meaning "garden") may refer to:
Places India
* Bagh Caves in Madhya Pradesh, India
* Bagh, Dhar, a town in Madhya Pradesh, India
Iran
* Bagh, Ardabil, a village in Ardabil Province
* Bagh, Larestan, a village ...
,
Sittanavasal
Sittanavasal is a small hamlet in Pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu, India. It is known for the Sittanavasal Cave, a 2nd-century Jain cave complex. From the 7th to the 9th century A.D., the village flourished as a Jain centre.
Etymology
There ...
,
Armamalai Cave (Tamil Nadu), Kailasanatha temple in
Ellora Caves
Ellora is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, India. It is one of the largest rock-cut Hindu temple cave complexes in the world, with artwork dating from the period 600–1000 CE., Quote: "These 34 mo ...
,
Ramgarh
Ramgarh may refer to:
Bangladesh
* Ramgarh Upazila, a sub-district of Khagrachari District
India
* Ramgarh, Bihar, a village near Munger, Bihar
* Ramgarh, Kaimur, a town in Kaimur district, Bihar
* Ramgarh, Uttarakhand, a hill station in Nainital ...
and Sitabinji.
Murals from this period depict mainly religious themes of Buddhist, Jain and Hindu religions. There are though also locations where paintings were secular. This includes the oldest known painted cave and theatre in Chhattisgarh – the
Jogimara and Sitabenga Caves
The Sitabenga and Jogimara Caves, sometimes referred to either as Sitabenga Cave or Jogimara Cave, are ancient cave monuments nested in the north side of Ramgarh hills in Puta village, Chhattisgarh, India. Dated between the 3rd-century BCE to 1 ...
– dated to between the 3rd to 1st century BCE.
Pre-11th-century miniature paintings
Early survivals of portable Indian paintings are all miniatures from texts (the great majority) or painted objects such as boxes. Despite considerable evidence that larger paintings on cloth (known as ''pata'') existed, and indeed surviving texts discussing how to make them, not a single medieval Indian painting on cloth is known to survive, unless some Buddhist ones have been taken as Tibetan, or from Central Asia. Some of the images recovered there by Sir
Aurel Stein
Sir Marc Aurel Stein,
( hu, Stein Márk Aurél; 26 November 1862 – 26 October 1943) was a Hungarian-born British archaeologist, primarily known for his explorations and archaeological discoveries in Central Asia. He was also a professor at ...
are Indian paintings, most being Buddhist and some with Hindu deities such as Ganesha and Shiva.
According to Blurton, such early paintings did not survive largely because of the deleterious climate of India, as well as due to the "added problem of Muslim iconoclasm" in the centuries that followed.
The pattern of large scale wall painting which had dominated the scene, witnessed the advent of miniature paintings during the 11th and 12th centuries. This new style figured first in the form of illustrations etched on palm-leaf manuscripts.
Eastern India
In eastern India, the principal centres of artistic and intellectual activities of the Buddhist religion were Nalanda, Odantapuri, Vikramshila and Somarpura situated in the Pala kingdom (Bengal and Bihar). Miniature painting from this region survives from the 10th century. These miniatures, depicting Buddhist divinities and scenes from the life of Buddha were painted on the leaves (about 2.25 by 3 inches) of the palm-leaf manuscripts as well as their wooden covers. Most common Buddhist illustrated manuscripts include the texts ''
Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita'', ''Pancharaksa'', ''Karandavyuha'' and ''Kalachakra Tantra''. The earliest extant miniatures are found in a manuscript of the ''Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita'' dated in the sixth regnal year of
Mahipala
Mahipala (or Mahipala I; ) was a notable king of the Pala dynasty, which ruled over much of the eastern regions of the Indian subcontinent between the 8th and 12th centuries. He was the son and successor of Vigrahapala II. Mahipala's reign mark ...
(c. 993), presently the possession of
The Asiatic Society
The Asiatic Society is a government of India organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of "Oriental research", in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions. It was founded by the p ...
, Kolkata. This style disappeared from India in the late 12th century.
The influence of eastern Indian paintings can be seen in various Buddhist temples in
Bagan,
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
particularly
Abeyadana temple which was named after Queen consort of Myanmar,
Abeyadana who herself had Indian roots and
Gubyaukgyi Temple. The influences of eastern Indian paintings can also be clearly observed in
Tibetan Thangka paintings.
Western India
Surviving illustrated manuscripts from Western India, mainly
Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
, begin around the 11th century, but are mostly from the 13th onwards. Initially surviving examples are all
Jain
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...
. By the 15th-century they were becoming increasingly lavish, with much use of gold.
The manuscript text most frequently illustrated is the ''
Kalpa Sūtra'', containing the biographies of the
Tirthankara
In Jainism, a ''Tirthankara'' (Sanskrit: '; English: literally a ' ford-maker') is a saviour and spiritual teacher of the '' dharma'' (righteous path). The word ''tirthankara'' signifies the founder of a '' tirtha'', which is a fordable pass ...
s, notably
Parshvanatha and
Mahavira. The illustrations are square-ish panels set in the text, with "wiry drawing" and "brilliant, even jewel-like colour". The figures are always seen in three-quarters view, with distinctive "long pointed noses and protruding eyes". There is a convention whereby the more distant side of the face protrudes, so that both eyes are seen.
Shadanga of Indian painting
Ancient texts defined six important aspects of painting. These 'Six Limbs' have been translated as follows:
# ''Rupabheda'' The knowledge of appearances.
# ''Pramanam'' Correct perception, measure and structure.
# ''Bhava'' Action of feelings on forms.
# ''Lavanya Yojanam'' Infusion of grace, artistic representation.
# ''Sadrisyam'' Similitude.
# ''Varnikabhanga'' Artistic manner of using the brush and colours. (Tagore.)
The subsequent development of painting by the Buddhists indicates that these ' Six Limbs ' were put into practice by Indian artists, and are the basic principles on which their art was founded.
Early Modern period (1526―1857 CE)
Mughal painting
Mughal painting
Mughal painting is a style of painting on paper confined to miniatures either as book illustrations or as single works to be kept in albums ( muraqqa), from the territory of the Mughal Empire in South Asia. It emerged from Persian miniature pai ...
is a style of Indian painting, generally confined to illustrations on the book and done in miniatures, and which emerged, developed and took shape during the period of the
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
between the 16th and 19th centuries. The Mughal style was heavily influenced by
Persian miniature
A Persian miniature ( Persian: نگارگری ایرانی ''negârgari Irâni'') is a small Persian painting on paper, whether a book illustration or a separate work of art intended to be kept in an album of such works called a '' muraqqa''. T ...
s, and in turn influenced several Indian styles, including the
Rajput
Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...
,
Pahari and
Deccan
The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by the ...
styles of painting.
Mughal paintings were a unique blend of Indian, Persian and Islamic styles. Because the Mughal kings wanted visual records of their deeds as hunters and conquerors, their artists accompanied them on military expeditions or missions of state, or recorded their prowess as animal slayers, or depicted them in the great dynastic ceremonies of marriages.
![Meister der Hamza-Nâma-Handschrift 001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Meister_der_Hamza-N%C3%A2ma-Handschrift_001.jpg)
Akbar's reign (1556–1605) ushered a new era in Indian miniature painting.
After he had consolidated his political power, he built a new capital at Fatehpur Sikri where he collected artists from India and Persia. He was the first monarch who established in India an atelier under the supervision of two Persian master artists, Mir Sayyed Ali and
Abdus Samad. Earlier, both of them had served under the patronage of Humayun in Kabul and accompanied him to India when he regained his throne in 1555. More than a hundred painters were employed, most of whom were from Gujarat, Gwalior and Kashmir, who gave a birth to a new school of painting, popularly known as the Mughal School of miniature Paintings.
Tuti-Nama was an early Mughal work from the mid 16th Century, and the similarities particularly in the female figures to the indigenous western India school is clearly visible. While some consider this to be a transition phase where the stylistic features of indigenous & Persian schools combined, other considered this to be a work of artists who were trained in western India school and who worked in Akbar's atelier to produce art for the Mughal palette, maybe under supervision of Persian masters.
Another early production that school of miniature painting was the
Hamzanama
The ''Hamzanama'' (Persian Language, Persian/Urdu: ''Hamzenâme'', Epic of Hamza) or ''Dastan-e-Amir Hamza'' (Persian/Urdu: ''Dâstâne Amir Hamze'', "Adventures of Amir Hamza") narrates the legendary exploits of Amir Hamza, or Hamza ibn Abdul ...
series, which according to the court historian, Badayuni, was started in 1567 and completed in 1582. The
Hamzanama
The ''Hamzanama'' (Persian Language, Persian/Urdu: ''Hamzenâme'', Epic of Hamza) or ''Dastan-e-Amir Hamza'' (Persian/Urdu: ''Dâstâne Amir Hamze'', "Adventures of Amir Hamza") narrates the legendary exploits of Amir Hamza, or Hamza ibn Abdul ...
, stories of Amir Hamza, an uncle of the Prophet, were illustrated by
Mir Sayyid Ali
Mir Sayyid Ali (Tabriz, 1510 – 1572) was a Persian miniature painter who was a leading artist of Persian miniatures before working under the Mughal dynasty in India, where he became one of the artists responsible for developing the style of Mugh ...
. The paintings of the Hamzanama are of large size, 20 x 27" and were painted on cloth. They are in the Persian safavi style. Brilliant red, blue and green colours predominate; the pink, eroded rocks and the vegetation, planes and blossoming plum and peach trees are reminiscent of Persia. The Hamza Nama is very different in style to the Tuti Nama. This difference was either due to a different set of artists who were trained in the Persian style or due to a conscious change in style through experimentation, either ways, mughal painting quickly evolved into more fluid and naturalistic style different from the stiffness in figures seen in earlier paintings. Nevertheless, links to the western India schools were still there on close inspection, particularly in the representation of the female figure.
After him,
Jahangir encouraged artists to paint portraits and durbar scenes.
His most talented portrait painters were
Ustad Mansur
Ustad Mansur (flourished 1590-1624) was a seventeenth-century Mughal painter and court artist. He grew up during the reign of Jahangir (r. 1605 - 1627) during which period he excelled at depicting plants and animals. He was the earliest artist t ...
, Abul Hasan and
Bishandas
Bishandas was a 17th-century Mughal painter at the court of the Mughal emperor Jahangir (1569–1627), specializing in portraits. Jahangir praised him as "unrivalled in the art of portraiture". Though little is known of Bishandas’ life, his ...
.
Shah Jahan (1627–1658) continued the patronage of painting.
Some of the famous artists of the period were Mohammad Faqirullah Khan, Mir Hashim, Muhammad Nadir,
Bichitr
Bichitr (fl. 17th century) was an Indian painter during the Mughal period, patronized by the emperors Jahangir and Shah Jahan.
The earliest known painting of his is a mature work from c. 1615. He was possibly still active in 1660. Britannica ...
, Chitarman, Anupchhatar, Manohar and Honhar.
Aurangzeb had no taste for fine arts, probably due to his Islamic conservatism.
Due to lack of patronage artists migrated to the Deccan and the Hindu courts of
Rajputana, greatly influencing the styles in these centres.
Deccan painting
![Maratha darbar](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Maratha_darbar.jpg)
Deccan painting was produced in the
Deccan
The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by the ...
region of
Central India, in the various Muslim capitals of the
Deccan sultanates that emerged from the break-up of the
Bahmani Sultanate by 1520. These were
Bijapur,
Golkonda,
Ahmadnagar
Ahmednagar (), is a city located in the Ahmednagar district in the state of Maharashtra, India, about 120 km northeast of Pune and 114 km from Aurangabad. Ahmednagar takes its name from Ahmad Nizam Shah I, who founded the town in 1 ...
,
Bidar
Bidar (/ biːd̪ər/) is a city in the north-eastern part of Karnataka state in India. It is the headquarters of Bidar district, which borders Maharashtra and Telangana. It is a rapidly urbanising city in the wider ''Bidar Metropolitan area ...
, and
Berar Berar may refer to:
*Vidarbha, the eastern region of Maharashtra Province, India, historically known as Berar
*Berar Sultanate (1490–1596), one of the Deccan sultanates
*Berar Subah (1596–1724), a Subah of the Mughal Empire
*Berar Province (1724 ...
. The main period was between the late 16th century and the mid-17th,
with something of a revival in the mid-18th century, by then centred on
Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...
.
Compared to the early Mughal painting evolving at the same time to the north, Deccan painting exceeds in "the brilliance of their colour, the sophistication and artistry of their composition, and a general air of decadent luxury". Other differences include painting faces, not very expertly modelled, in three-quarter view, rather than mostly in profile in the Mughal style, and "tall women with small heads" wearing saris. There are many royal portraits, although they lack the precise likenesses of their Mughal equivalents. Buildings are depicted as "totally flat screen-like panels".
Ragamala paintings
Ragamala paintings are a form of Indian miniature painting, a set of illustrative paintings of the ''Ragamala'' or "Garland of Ragas", depicting variations of the Indian musical modes called ragas. They stand as a classical example of the amalga ...
, sets illustrating (by evoking their moods) the various ''
raga'' musical forms, appear to have been an innovation of the Deccan. Beside the usual portraits and illustrations to literary works, there are sometimes illustrated chronicles, such as the ''
Tuzuk-i-Asafiya''. A Deccan speciality (also sometimes found in other media,
such as ivory) is the "composite animal" a large animal made up of many smaller images of other animals.
Rajput painting
![Nihâl Chand 001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Nih%C3%A2l_Chand_001.jpg)
The early Mewar and Malwa schools, sometimes also collectively known as Western India school, developed around this period, and are stylistically similar and linked to the style of depiction in 14th–15th century texts from Gujarat. The similar large eyes, stiff figures, protruding hips and breasts are a linking feature. The Kulhadar group of paintings is considered one of the finest works executed belonging to the western India school. Executed in early 16th century, this group paintings were characterized by the men wearing a conical cap (Kulha) on which turbans were worn. The Kulhadar group of paintings consisted of Chaurapanchasika – "Fifty Verses of the Thief" by Bilhan, the Gita Govinda, the Bhagavata Purana and Ragamala.
Driven by the Islamic conquests, the mid-late 16th Century saw central Asian influence starting to creep into Indian artistic representation. The use of gold foil and ultramarine blue derived from imported lapiz lazuli were two such Persian influences which were adopted into Indian painting. Manuscripts of Laur Chanda at the National Museum are an example of such influence.
Several different styles of Rajput painting developed from the late 16th century onwards in the Hindu royal courts of
Rajputana.
Each Rajput kingdom evolved a distinct style, but with certain common features. Rajput paintings depict a number of themes, events of epics like the
Ramayana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...
and the
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the s ...
, Krishna's life, beautiful landscapes, and humans. Many miniatures were individual album pieces, but there are also illustrated books, and there was at the same time some mural painting on the walls of palaces, forts, and
haveli
A ''haveli'' is a traditional townhouse, mansion, manor house, in the Indian subcontinent, usually one with historical and architectural significance, and located in a town or city. The word ''haveli'' is derived from Arabic ''hawali'', mean ...
s. This especially so in the
Shekhawati
Shekhawati is a semi-arid historical region located in the northeast part of Rajasthan, India. The region was ruled by Shekhawat Rajputs.
Shekhawati is located in North Rajasthan, comprising the districts of Jhunjhunu,
parts of Sikar that lie ...
region, where
Marwari businessmen, mainly active in the large cities, competed to have brightly painted exteriors of the houses they maintained in their home region.
Rajput painting consists of four principal groupings:
# The
Mewar school that contains the
Chavand,
Nathdwara
Nathdwara is a town near Rajsamand city in the Rajsamand district of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is located in the Aravalli hills, on the banks of the Banas River and is 48 kilometres north-east of Udaipur. Shrinathji, is a swarup o ...
,
Devgarh,
Udaipur
Udaipur () ( ISO 15919: ''Udayapura''), historically named as Udayapura, is a city and municipal corporation in Udaipur district of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is the administrative headquarter of Udaipur district. It is the historic cap ...
and
Sawar
Sowar ( ur, سوار, also ''siwar'' meaning "the one who rides" or "rider", from Persian ) was originally a rank during the Mughal Empire and Maratha Empire. Later during the British Raj it was the name in Anglo-Indian usage for a horse-sold ...
styles of painting
# The
Marwar
Marwar (also called Jodhpur region) is a region of western Rajasthan state in North Western India. It lies partly in the Thar Desert. The word 'maru' is Sanskrit for desert. In Rajasthani languages, "wad" means a particular area. English tra ...
school comprising the
Kishangarh
Kishangarh is a city and a Municipal Council in Ajmer district in the Indian state of Rajasthan.
History
Kishangarh State was founded by the Jodhpur prince Kishan Singh in 1609. Prior to the rule of Kishan Singh this area was ruled by Ra ...
,
Bikaner style of painting
The Bikaner style of painting is a Rajasthani style of Indian painting developed in the city of Bikaner, capital of a wealthy but isolated state, much of it the Thar desert. It is one of the many schools of Rajput painting that developed in t ...
from
Bikaner
Bikaner () is a city in the northwest of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is located northwest of the state capital, Jaipur. Bikaner city is the administrative headquarters of Bikaner District and Bikaner division.
Formerly the capital of ...
,
Jodhpur
Jodhpur (; ) is the second-largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan and officially the second metropolitan city of the state. It was formerly the seat of the princely state of Jodhpur State. Jodhpur was historically the capital of the ...
,
Nagaur,
Pali
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddh ...
and
Ghanerao
Ghanerao is a village in Desuri tehsil of Pali district of Rajasthan.
The village is located on the Sadri-Desuri road RJ SH 16, State Highway 16. Due to its proximity to Kumbhalgarh fort, Ranakpur Jain temple and Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary, ...
styles
# The
Hadoti
Hadoti is a region of Rajasthan state in western India, which was once called the Bundi Kingdom. The biggest cities are Jhalawar and Kota. It includes the districts of Bundi, Baran, Jhalawar and Kota and is bounded on the west by the Mew ...
school with the
Kota,
Bundi
Bundi is a city in the Hadoti region of Rajasthan state in northwest India and capital of the former princely state of Rajputana agency. District of Bundi is named after the former princely state.
Demographics
According to the 2011 Indian cens ...
and
Jhalawar
Jhalawar () is a city, municipal council and headquarter in Jhalawar district of the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located in the southeastern part of the state. It was the capital of the former princely state of Jhalawar, and is the admin ...
styles and
# The Dhundar school of
Amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In ...
,
Jaipur
Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known ...
,
Shekhawati painting
The region of Shekhawati in Rajasthan is remarkable for its wealth of mural paintings which adorn the walls of many buildings, including havelis.
History
Shekhawati region
Shekhawati describes a district, or nizamat, of the pre-Independence ki ...
and
Uniara
Uniara is a town and a municipality in Tonk district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is a tehsil of the Tonk district.
Geography
Galwa dam, the eighth largest dam in Rajasthan, is three kilometers from Uniara. Uniara has major forest area ...
styles of painting.
Pahari painting
Pahari painting (literally meaning a painting from the mountainous regions: ''pahar'' means a mountain in Hindi) is an umbrella term used for a form of Indian painting, done mostly in miniature forms, originating from Himalayan hill kingdoms ...
is the northernmost extension of the Rajput style, but usually treated separately.
Pahari painting
![Krishna_et_Radha_dans_un_pavillon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Krishna_et_Radha_dans_un_pavillon.jpg)
The
Pahari style also referred to as the Punjab Hills style developed and flourished during 17th to 19th centuries stretching from
Jammu
Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi, the city of Jammu, with an area of ...
to
Almora
Almora ( Kumaoni: ''Almāḍ'') is a municipal board and a cantonment town in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Almora district. Almora is located on a ridge at the southern edge of the Kumaon Hills of th ...
and
Garhwal, in the sub-
Himalayan India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, through
Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...
.
The Pahari paintings can be grouped into two groups- Jammu or Dogra school; and Basholi and Kangra school. Each created stark variations within the genre, ranging from bold intense
Basohli Painting, originating from
Basohli
Basohli (formerly Vishwasthali) is a town near Kathua in Kathua district in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is situated on the right bank of River Ravi at an altitude of 1876 ft. It was founded by Raja Bhupat Pal som ...
in
Jammu and Kashmir, to the delicate and lyrical
Kangra paintings
Kangra painting (Hindi: कांगड़ा चित्रकारी) is the pictorial art of Kangra, named after the Kangra State, a former princely state of Himachal Pradesh, which patronized the art. It became prevalent with the fadin ...
, which became synonymous to the style before other schools of paintings developed.
Malwa and Jaunpur
A new trend in manuscript illustration was set by a manuscript of the ''Nimatnama'' painted at Mandu, during the reign of Nasir Shah (1500–1510). This represent a synthesis of the indigenous and the patronized Persian style, though it was the latter which dominated the Mandu manuscripts. There was another style of painting known as Lodi Khuladar that flourished in the Sultanate's dominion of North India extending from Delhi to Jaunpur.
Mysore painting
Mysore painting is an important form of classical
South India
South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territ ...
n painting that originated in the town of
Mysore
Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...
in Karnataka. These paintings are known for their elegance, muted colours and attention to detail. The themes for most of these paintings are
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
Gods and Goddesses and scenes from
Hindu mythology. In modern times, these paintings have become a much sought-after souvenir during festive occasions in South India.
The process of making a Mysore painting involves many stages. The first stage involves the making of the preliminary sketch of the image on the base. The base consists of cartridge paper pasted on a wooden base. A paste made of
zinc oxide
Zinc oxide is an inorganic compound with the formula . It is a white powder that is insoluble in water. ZnO is used as an additive in numerous materials and products including cosmetics, food supplements, rubbers, plastics, ceramics, glass, cement ...
and
arabic gum
Gum arabic, also known as gum sudani, acacia gum, Arabic gum, gum acacia, acacia, Senegal gum, Indian gum, and by other names, is a natural gum originally consisting of the hardened sap of two species of the ''Acacia'' tree, '' Senegalia se ...
is made called "gesso paste". With the help of a thin brush all the jewellery and parts of throne or the arch which have some relief are painted over to give a slightly raised effect of carving. This is allowed to dry. On this thin gold foil is pasted. The rest of the drawing is then painted using watercolours. Only muted colours are used.
Tanjore painting
![Sikh Gurus with Bhai Bala and Bhai Mardana](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Sikh_Gurus_with_Bhai_Bala_and_Bhai_Mardana.jpg)
Tanjore painting is an important form of classical
South India
South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territ ...
n painting native to the town of
Tanjore
Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the ...
in Tamil Nadu. The art form dates back to the early 9th century, a period dominated by the
Chola rulers, who encouraged art and literature. These paintings are known for their elegance, rich colours, and attention to detail. The themes for most of these paintings are
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
Gods and Goddesses and scenes from
Hindu mythology. In modern times, these paintings have become a much sought-after souvenir during festive occasions in South India.
The process of making a Tanjore painting involves many stages. The first stage involves the making of the preliminary sketch of the image on the base. The base consists of a cloth pasted over a wooden base. Then chalk powder or
zinc oxide
Zinc oxide is an inorganic compound with the formula . It is a white powder that is insoluble in water. ZnO is used as an additive in numerous materials and products including cosmetics, food supplements, rubbers, plastics, ceramics, glass, cement ...
is mixed with water-soluble
adhesive and apply it on the base. To make the base smoother, a mild
abrasive
An abrasive is a material, often a mineral, that is used to shape or finish a workpiece through rubbing which leads to part of the workpiece being worn away by friction. While finishing a material often means polishing it to gain a smooth, reflec ...
is sometimes used. After the drawing is made, decoration of the jewelry and the apparels in the image is done with semi-precious stones. Laces or threads are also used to decorate the jewelry. On top of this, the gold foils are pasted. Finally,
dyes are used to add colours to the figures in the paintings.
Pattachitra
Pattachitra refers to the Classical painting of
Odisha
Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...
and
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...
, in the eastern region of India.'Patta' in
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
means 'Vastra' or 'clothings' and 'chitra' means paintings.
The Bengal Patachitra refers to the painting of
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...
. It is a traditional and mythological heritage of
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...
. The Bengal Patachitra is divided into some different aspects like ''Durga Pat'', ''
Chalchitra'', ''Tribal Patachitra'', ''Medinipur Patachitra'',
Kalighat Patachitra etc. The subject matter of Bengal Patachitra is mostly mythological, religious stories, folk lore and social. The Kalighat Patachitra, the last tradition of Bengal Patachitra is developed by
Jamini Roy
Jamini Roy ( Bengali: যামিনী রায়) (11 April 1887 – 24 April 1972) was an Indian painter. He was honoured by the Government of India the award of Padma Bhushan in 1954. He remains one of the most famous pupils of Aban ...
. The artist of the Bengal Patachitra is called
Patua
The Patua (Bengali: পটুয়া, ''paṭuẏā'') are an artisan community found in the state of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha in India and parts of Bangladesh. Some Patuas are Hindus, while others are Muslims. Hindu Patuas are ...
.
![Westindischer Maler um 1550 001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Westindischer_Maler_um_1550_001.jpg)
The tradition of Orisha Pattachitra is closely linked with the worship of Lord
Jagannath
Jagannath ( or, ଜଗନ୍ନାଥ, lit=Lord of the Universe, Jagannātha; formerly en, Juggernaut) is a deity worshipped in regional Hindu traditions in India and Bangladesh as part of a triad along with his brother Balabhadra, and sister ...
. Apart from the fragmentary evidence of paintings on the caves of
Khandagiri
Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves, formerly called Kattaka Caves or Cuttack caves, are partly natural and partly artificial caves of archaeological, historical and religious importance near the city of Bhubaneswar in Odisha, India. The caves are ...
and
Udayagiri and Sitabhinji murals of the Sixth century A.D., the earliest indigenous paintings from Odisha are the Pattachitra done by the Chitrakars (the painters are called Chitrakars). The theme of Oriya painting centres round the
Vaishnava
Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...
sect. Since beginning of Pattachitra culture Lord Jagannath who was an incarnation of Lord Krishna was the major source of inspiration. The subject matter of Patta Chitra is mostly mythological, religious stories and folk lore. Themes are chiefly on Lord Jagannath and
Radha-
Krishna
Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...
, different "Vesas" of
Jagannath
Jagannath ( or, ଜଗନ୍ନାଥ, lit=Lord of the Universe, Jagannātha; formerly en, Juggernaut) is a deity worshipped in regional Hindu traditions in India and Bangladesh as part of a triad along with his brother Balabhadra, and sister ...
,
Balabhadra
In Jainism, Balabhadra or Baladeva are among the sixty-three illustrious beings called ''śalākāpuruṣas'' that are said to grace every half cycle of time. According to Jain cosmology, ''śalākāpuruṣa'' are born on this earth in every ...
and
Subhadra, temple activities, the ten
incarnation
Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It refers to the conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or the appearance of a god as a human. If capitalized, it is the union of divinit ...
s of
Vishnu
Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism.
Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" withi ...
basing on the '
Gita Govinda
The ''Gita Govinda'' ( sa, गीत गोविन्दम्; ) is a work composed by the 12th-century Hindu poet, Jayadeva. It describes the relationship between Krishna, Radha and ''gopis'' (female cow herders) of Vrindavan.
The ''Gita ...
' of
Jayadev, Kama Kujara Naba Gunjara,
Ramayana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...
,
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the s ...
. The individual paintings of gods and goddesses are also being painted.The painters use vegetable and mineral colours without going for factory made poster colours. They prepare their own colours. White colour is made from the
conch-shells by powdering, boiling and filtering in a very hazardous process. It requires a lot of patience. But this process gives brilliance and permanence to the
hue
In color theory, hue is one of the main properties (called color appearance parameters) of a color, defined technically in the CIECAM02 model as "the degree to which a stimulus can be described as similar to or different from stimuli that ...
. 'Hingula', a mineral colour, is used for red. 'Haritala', king of stone ingredients for yellow, 'Ramaraja' a sort of indigo for blue are being used. Pure
lamp-black or black prepared from the burning of cocoanut shells are used.The brushes that are used by these 'Chitrakaras' are also indigenous and are made of hair of domestic animals. A bunch of hair tied to the end of a bamboo stick make the brush. It is really a matter of wonder as to how these painters bring out lines of such precision and finish with the help of these crude brushes. That old tradition of Oriya painting still survives to-day in the skilled hands of Chitrakaras (traditional painters) in
Puri
Puri () is a coastal city and a municipality in the state of Odisha in eastern India. It is the district headquarters of Puri district and is situated on the Bay of Bengal, south of the state capital of Bhubaneswar. It is also known as '' ...
,
Raghurajpur
Raghurajpur is a heritage crafts village out of Puri district, India, known for its master Pattachitra painters, an art form which dates back to 5 BC in the region and Gotipua dance troupes, the precursor to the Indian classical dance form of ...
,
Paralakhemundi
Paralakhemundi shortly known as Parala is district Headquarter of Gajapati district and one of the oldest Municipality established in 1885, in the Indian state of Odisha. Majority of the people in the town speak Odia. The city and the Distri ...
, Chikiti and
Sonepur.
Other regional styles
Madhubani painting
Mithila painting is a style of painting practiced in the Mithila region of India and Nepal. Artists create these paintings using a variety of mediums, including their own fingers, or twigs, brushes, nib-pens, and matchstick. The paint is crea ...
is a style of painting, practiced in the Mithila region of Bihar state. Themes revolve around Hindu Gods and mythology, along with scenes from the royal court and social events like weddings. Generally no space is left empty; the gaps are filled by paintings of flowers, animals, birds, and even geometric designs.In this paintings, artists use leaves, herbs, and flowers to make the colour which is used to draw the paintings.
British Colonial period
Company style
As
Company rule in India
Company rule in India (sometimes, Company ''Raj'', from hi, rāj, lit=rule) refers to the rule of the British East India Company on the Indian subcontinent. This is variously taken to have commenced in 1757, after the Battle of Plassey, when ...
began in the 18th century, a great number of Europeans migrated to India. The
Company style
Company style, also known as Company painting or Patna painting (Hindi: ''kampani kalam'') is a term for a hybrid Indo-European style of paintings made in India by Indian artists, many of whom worked for European patrons in the East India Company ...
is a term for a hybrid Indo-European style of paintings made in India by Indian and European artists, many of whom worked for European patrons in the
British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...
or other foreign Companies in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The style blended traditional elements from
Rajput
Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...
and
Mughal painting
Mughal painting is a style of painting on paper confined to miniatures either as book illustrations or as single works to be kept in albums ( muraqqa), from the territory of the Mughal Empire in South Asia. It emerged from Persian miniature pai ...
with a more Western treatment of perspective, volume and recession.
Early Modern Indian painting
![Radha_and_Krishna_by_DHURANDHAR_MV](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Radha_and_Krishna_by_DHURANDHAR_MV.jpg)
At the start of the 18th century, oil and easel painting began in India, which saw many European artists, such as
Zoffany
Johan Joseph Zoffany (born Johannes Josephus Zaufallij; 13 March 1733 – 11 November 1810) was a German neoclassical painter who was active mainly in England, Italy and India. His works appear in many prominent British collections, includin ...
,
Kettle
A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a type of pot specialized for boiling water, commonly with a ''lid'', ''spout'', and ''handle'', or a small electric kitchen appliance of similar shape that functions in a self-contained ...
,
Hodges,
Thomas
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
and
William Daniell
William Daniell (1769–1837) was an English landscape and marine painter, and printmaker, notable for his work in aquatint. He travelled extensively in India in the company of his uncle Thomas Daniell, with whom he collaborated on one of th ...
,
Joshua Reynolds,
Emily Eden
Emily Eden (3 March 1797 – 5 August 1869) was an English poet and novelist who gave witty accounts of English life in the early 19th century. She wrote a celebrated account of her travels in India, and two novels that sold well. She was also a ...
and
George Chinnery
George Chinnery (; 5 January 1774 – 30 May 1852) was an English painter who spent most of his life in Asia, especially India and southern China.
Early life
Chinnery was born in London, where he studied at the Royal Academy Schools. ...
coming out to India in search of fame and fortune. The courts of the
princely states of India were an important draw for European artists due to their patronage of the visual and performing arts. For Indian artists, this Western influence, largely a result of colonialism, was viewed as "a means for self-improvement", and these Western academic artists who visited India provided the model.
[R. Siva Kumar (1999) Modern Indian Art: A Brief Overview, Art Journal, 58:3, 14] They did not, however, provide the training. According to R. Siva Kumar, "This task, which fell on the various art schools established in the 1850s, gave an institutional framework to the Westernization of Indian art".
The earliest formal art schools in India, namely the
Government College of Fine Arts in
Madras (1850),
Government College of Art & Craft in
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
(1854) and
Sir J. J. School of Art
The Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy School of Art (Sir J. J. School of Art) is the oldest art institution in Mumbai, India, and is affiliated with the University of Mumbai. The school grants bachelor's degrees in fine art and sculpture, and Master's de ...
in Bombay (1857), were established.
Raja Ravi Varma was a pioneer of modern Indian painting. He drew on Western traditions and techniques including oil paint and easel painting, with his subjects being purely Indian, such as Hindu deities and episodes from the epics and
Purana
Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...
s. Some other prominent Indian painters born in the 19th century are
Mahadev Vishwanath Dhurandhar (1867–1944),
A X Trindade
A, or a, is the first Letter (alphabet), letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name ...
(1870–1935),
M F Pithawalla
Manchershaw Fakirjee Pithawalla (1872–1937) was an important painter of the Bombay School in the early 20th century.
Biography
M. F. Pithawalla was born in Pitha, Surat. He moved to Bombay following his father's death in 1888. He was disco ...
(1872–1937),
Sawlaram Lakshman Haldankar (1882–1968) and
Hemen Majumdar (1894–1948).
![Abanindranath Tagore - The Passing of Shah Jahan, 1902](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Abanindranath_Tagore_-_The_Passing_of_Shah_Jahan%2C_1902.jpg)
In the 19th century, according to R. Siva Kumar, "selective Westernization for self-improvement gave way to a nationalist cultural counter-stance around the turn of the century – universally, the first step toward a political resistance toward colonial rule".
[R. Siva Kumar (1999) Modern Indian Art: A Brief Overview, Art Journal, 58:3, 15] In practice, this materialized as an assimilation of "diverse Asian elements", expanding tradition more than reviving it.
Leading artist of the time,
Abanindranath Tagore
Abanindranath Tagore ( Bengali: অবনীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 August 1871 – 5 December 1951) was the principal artist and creator of the "Indian Society of Oriental Art". He was also the first major exponent of Sw ...
(1871–1951), utilized both the Western-influenced realism and Asian elements which brought him "close to early modernism".
A reaction to the Western influence led to a revival in historic and more nationalistic Indian art, called as the
Bengal school of art
The Bengal School of Art, commonly referred as Bengal School, was an art movement and a style of Indian painting that originated in Bengal, primarily Kolkata and Shantiniketan, and flourished throughout the Indian subcontinent, during the Britis ...
, which drew from the rich cultural heritage of India.
Bengal school
The
Bengal School of Art
The Bengal School of Art, commonly referred as Bengal School, was an art movement and a style of Indian painting that originated in Bengal, primarily Kolkata and Shantiniketan, and flourished throughout the Indian subcontinent, during the Britis ...
was an influential style of art that flourished in India during the
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was him ...
in the early 20th century. It was associated with Indian nationalism, but was also promoted and supported by many British arts administrators.
The Bengal school arose as an
avant garde and nationalist movement reacting against the
academic art
Academic art, or academicism or academism, is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies of art. Specifically, academic art is the art and artists influenced by the standards of the French Académie ...
styles previously promoted in India, both by Indian artists such as
Ravi Varma and in British art schools. Following the widespread influence of Indian spiritual ideas in the West, the British art teacher
Ernest Binfield Havel
Ernest Binfield Havell (16 September 1861 – 31 December 1934), who published under the name E.B. Havell, was an influential English arts administrator, art historian and author of numerous books about Indian art and Indian architecture, archit ...
attempted to reform the teaching methods at the
Calcutta School of Art
The Government College of Art & Craft (GCAC) in Kolkata is one of the oldest Art colleges in India. It was founded on August 16, 1854 at Garanhata, Chitpur, "with the purpose of establishing an institution for teaching the youth of all classe ...
by encouraging students to imitate
Mughal miniatures. This caused immense controversy, leading to a strike by students and complaints from the local press, including from nationalists who considered it to be a retrogressive move. Havel was supported by the artist
Abanindranath Tagore
Abanindranath Tagore ( Bengali: অবনীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 August 1871 – 5 December 1951) was the principal artist and creator of the "Indian Society of Oriental Art". He was also the first major exponent of Sw ...
, a nephew of the poet and artist
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
.
Abanindranath painted a number of works influenced by Mughal art, a style that he and Havel believed to be expressive of India's distinct spiritual qualities, as opposed to the "materialism" of the West. His best-known painting, ''Bharat Mata'' (Mother India), depicted a young woman, portrayed with four arms in the manner of Hindu deities, holding objects symbolic of India's national aspirations.
Tagore later attempted to develop links with Far-Eastern artists as part of an aspiration to construct a
pan-Asianist
Satellite photograph of Asia in orthographic projection.
Pan-Asianism (''also known as Asianism or Greater Asianism'') is an ideology aimed at creating a political and economic unity among Asian peoples. Various theories and movements of Pan-Asi ...
model of art. Those associated with this Indo-Far Eastern model included
Nandalal Bose,
Mukul Dey
Mukul Chandra Dey ( bn, মুকুলচন্দ্র দে) (23 July 1895 – 1 March 1989) was one of five children of Purnashashi Devi and Kula Chandra Dey.''The International Who's Who 1943–44''. George Allen & Unwin, 8th edition, Lo ...
,
Kalipada Ghoshal
Kalipada Ghoshal (Bengali: কালিপদ ঘোষাল; September 1906 – 29 April 1995) (Kali-Pado means he who is under Mother Goddess Kali). He was an artist from Calcutta. He was a well regarded student of the Indian Society of Ori ...
,
Benode Behari Mukherjee
Benode Behari Mukherjee (7 February 1904 – 11 November 1980) was an Indian artist from West Bengal state. Mukherjee was one of the pioneers of Indian modern art and a key figure of Contextual Modernism. He was one of the earliest artists in mod ...
, Vinayak Shivaram Masoji,
B.C. Sanyal,
Beohar Rammanohar Sinha
Beohar Rammanohar Sinha (15 June 1929 – 25 October 2007) was an Indian artist who is very well known for his illustrations in the original final manuscript of Constitution of India, including the complete Preamble-page, which was brought to f ...
, and subsequently their students
A. Ramachandran, Tan Yuan Chameli, Ramananda Bandopadhyay and a few others.
The Bengal school's influence on Indian art scene gradually started alleviating with the spread of
modernist
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
ideas post-independence.
K. G. Subramanyan
Kalpathi Ganpathi "K.G." Subramanyan (1924 29 June 2016) was an Indian artist. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2012.
Life
Subramanyan was born in Tamil Brahmin family on 1924 in Kuthuparamba in Kerala, India, and initially studied econ ...
's role in this movement is significant.
Contextual Modernism
The term
Contextual Modernism that Siva Kumar used in the catalogue of the exhibition has emerged as a
postcolonial
Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. More specifically, it is a ...
critical tool in the understanding of the art the Santiniketan artists had practised.
Several terms including
Paul Gilroy
Paul Gilroy (born 16 February 1956) is an English sociologist and cultural studies scholar who is the founding Director of the Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Race and Racism at University College, London (UCL). Gilroy is the 2019 ...
's ''counter culture of modernity'' and
Tani Barlow's ''Colonial modernity'' have been used to describe the kind of alternative modernity that emerged in non-European contexts. Professor Gall argues that 'Contextual Modernism' is a more suited term because "the colonial in ''colonial modernity'' does not accommodate the refusal of many in colonised situations to internalise inferiority. Santiniketan’s artist teachers' refusal of subordination incorporated a counter vision of modernity, which sought to correct the racial and cultural essentialism that drove and characterised imperial Western modernity and modernism. Those European modernities, projected through a triumphant British colonial power, provoked nationalist responses, equally problematic when they incorporated similar essentialisms".
According to
R. Siva Kumar
Raman Siva Kumar (born 3 December 1956), known as R. Siva Kumar, is an Indian contemporary art historian, art critic, and curator. His major research has been in the area of early Indian modernism with special focus on the Santiniketan Schoo ...
"The Santiniketan artists were one of the first who consciously challenged this idea of modernism by opting out of both internationalist modernism and historicist indigenousness and tried to create a context sensitive modernism."
He had been studying the work of the Santiniketan masters and thinking about their approach to art since the early 80s. The practice of subsuming
Nandalal Bose,
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
,
Ram Kinker Baij
Ramkinkar Baij ( bn, রামকিঙ্কর বেইজ) (25 May 1906 – 2 August 1980) was an Indian sculpture, sculptor and painter, one of the pioneers of modern Indian sculpture and a key figure of Contextual Modernism.
Earl ...
and
Benode Behari Mukherjee
Benode Behari Mukherjee (7 February 1904 – 11 November 1980) was an Indian artist from West Bengal state. Mukherjee was one of the pioneers of Indian modern art and a key figure of Contextual Modernism. He was one of the earliest artists in mod ...
under the
Bengal School of Art
The Bengal School of Art, commonly referred as Bengal School, was an art movement and a style of Indian painting that originated in Bengal, primarily Kolkata and Shantiniketan, and flourished throughout the Indian subcontinent, during the Britis ...
was, according to Siva Kumar, misleading. ''This happened because early writers were guided by genealogies of apprenticeship rather than their styles, worldviews, and perspectives on art practice''.
The literary critic
Ranjit Hoskote
Ranjit Hoskote (born 1969) is an Indian poet, art critic, cultural theorist and independent curator. He has been honoured by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, with the Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee Award and the Sahitya ...
while reviewing the works of contemporary artist
Atul Dodiya
Atul Dodiya (born 20 January 1959, in Ghatkopar, Mumbai, India) is an Indian artist.
Biography
Atul began exhibiting and selling his work in the early 1980s following his graduation from Sir J. J. School of Art in Mumbai where he received a B ...
writes, "The exposure to Santinketan, through a literary detour, opened Dodiya’s eyes to the historical circumstances of what the art historian
R Siva Kumar has called a "contextual modernism" developed in eastern India in the 1930s and '40s during the turbulent decades of the global Depression, the Gandhian liberation struggle, the Tagorean cultural renaissance and World War II."
''Contextual Modernism'' in the recent past has found its usage in other related fields of studies, specially in
Architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
.
Post Independence (1947― present)
During the colonial era, Western influences started to make an impact on Indian art. Some artists developed a style that used Western ideas of composition, perspective and realism to illustrate Indian themes. Others, like
Jamini Roy
Jamini Roy ( Bengali: যামিনী রায়) (11 April 1887 – 24 April 1972) was an Indian painter. He was honoured by the Government of India the award of Padma Bhushan in 1954. He remains one of the most famous pupils of Aban ...
, consciously drew inspiration from folk art. Bharti Dayal has chosen to handle the traditional Mithila Painting in most contemporary way and uses both realism as well abstractionism in her work with a lot of fantasy mixed in to both .Her work has an impeccable sense of balance, harmony and grace.
By the time of Independence in 1947, several schools of art in India provided access to modern techniques and ideas. Galleries were established to showcase these artists. Modern Indian art typically shows the influence of Western styles, but is often inspired by Indian themes and images. Major artists are beginning to gain international recognition, initially among the Indian diaspora, but also among non-Indian audiences.
The
Progressive Artists' Group
The Progressive Artists' Group (PAG), was a group of modern artists, mainly based in Bombay, from its formation in 1947. Though it lacked any particular style, there might be said to have been a move towards a synthesis of influences from Indian ...
, established shortly after India became independent in 1947, was intended to establish new ways of expressing India in the post-colonial era. The founders were six eminent artists –
K. H. Ara
Krishnaji Howlaji Ara (16 April 1914 – 30 June 1985) was an Indian painter and is seen as the first contemporary Indian painter to meticulously use the female nude as a subject. He was a part of the Progressive Artists' Group in Bombay and w ...
,
S. K. Bakre,
H. A. Gade,
M.F. Husain,
S.H. Raza and
F. N. Souza
Francis Newton Souza (12 April 1924 – 28 March 2002) was an Indian-American British Asian artist. He was a founding member of the Progressive Artists' Group of Bombay. Souza's style exhibited both decadence and primitivism.
Early life and e ...
, though the group was dissolved in 1956, it was profoundly influential in changing the idiom of Indian art. Almost all India's major artists in the 1950s were associated with the group. Some of those who are well-known today are
Bal Chabda
Bal may refer to:
* Bal (surname), a Dutch, Indian, and Turkish surname
* Bal, Iran (disambiguation)
* Bal, Zira, a village in Punjab, India
* ''Bal'' (film), a 2010 Turkish film
* Bäl, a settlement on the Swedish island of Gotland
* 8678 Bä ...
,
Manishi Dey
Manishi Dey (22 September 1909 – 31 January 1966) was an Indian painter of the Bengal School of Art. Manishi Dey was the younger brother of Mukul Dey, a pioneering Indian artist and dry point etcher.Satyasri Ukil: "Mukul Dey: Pioneering Indi ...
,
V. S. Gaitonde
Vasudeo S. Gaitonde (1924 – 10 August 2001), also known as V. S. Gaitonde, was regarded as one of India's foremost abstract painters. He received the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1971.
Early life and education
Gaitonde was born ...
,
Krishen Khanna
Krishen Khanna (born 5 July 1925) is an Indian artist. He attended Imperial Service College in England and is a self-taught artist. He is recipient of the Rockefeller Fellowship in 1962, the Padma Shri in 1990, and the Padma Bhushan in 2011.
Ea ...
,
Ram Kumar
Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:
Animals
* A male sheep
* Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish
People
* Ram (given name)
* Ram (surname)
* Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director
* RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch
* ...
,
Tyeb Mehta
Tyeb Mehta (26 July 1925 – 2 July 2009) was an Indian painter, sculptor and film maker. He was part of the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group and the first post-colonial generation of artists in India, like John Wilkins who also broke fr ...
,
Beohar Rammanohar Sinha
Beohar Rammanohar Sinha (15 June 1929 – 25 October 2007) was an Indian artist who is very well known for his illustrations in the original final manuscript of Constitution of India, including the complete Preamble-page, which was brought to f ...
and
Akbar Padamsee
Akbar Padamsee (12 April 1928 – 6 January 2020) was an Indian artist and painter, considered one of the pioneers in modern Indian painting along with S.H. Raza, F.N. Souza and M.F. Husain. Over the years he also worked with various mediums ...
. Other famous painters like
Jahar Dasgupta,
Prokash Karmakar,
John Wilkins
John Wilkins, (14 February 1614 – 19 November 1672) was an Anglican clergyman, natural philosopher, and author, and was one of the founders of the Royal Society. He was Bishop of Chester from 1668 until his death.
Wilkins is one of the f ...
, and Bijon Choudhuri enriched the art culture of India. They have become the icon of modern Indian art. Art historians like Prof. Rai
Anand Krishna have also referred to those works of modern artistes that reflect Indian ethos.
Also, the increase in the discourse about Indian art, in English as well as vernacular Indian languages, appropriated the way art was perceived in the art schools. Critical approach became rigorous, critics like
Geeta Kapur
Geeta Kapur (born 1943) is a noted Indian art critic, art historian and curator based in New Delhi. She was one of the pioneers of critical art writing in India, and who, as ''Indian Express'' noted, has "dominated the field of Indian contemp ...
,
R . Siva Kumar,
[http://ngmaindia.gov.in/pdf/The-Last-Harvest-e-INVITE.pdf ] contributed to re-thinking contemporary art practice in India.Their voices represented
Indian art not only in India but across the world. The critics also had an important role as curators of important exhibitions, re-defining modernism and Indian-art.
Indian Art got a boost with the economic liberalization of the country since the early 1990s. Artists from various fields now started bringing in varied styles of work. Post-liberalization Indian art thus works not only within the confines of academic traditions but also outside it. In this phase, artists have introduced even newer concepts which have hitherto not been seen in Indian art.
Devajyoti Ray
Devajyoti Ray is an Indian painter and installation artist whose works attained significance
in the post-liberalization phase of the Indian economy. His works have been exhibited internationally and have been acquired by many art academies. De ...
has introduced a new genre of art called
Pseudorealism
Pseudorealism, also spelled pseudo-realism, is a term used in a variety of discourses connoting artistic and dramatic techniques, or work of art, film and literature perceived as superficial, ''not-real'', or non-realistic.Eric Loren Smoodin, Ann ...
. Pseudorealist Art is an original art style that has been developed entirely on the Indian soil. Pseudorealism takes into account the Indian concept of abstraction and uses it to transform regular scenes of Indian life into a fantastic images.
Vernacular Indian Painting
Vernacular art is an art alive (contemporary art), based on the past (the myths, the traditions and the religion) and made by defined groups. Vernacular art is based on the collective memory of this group.
Examples of Vernacular Indian Painting:
Tribal Painting:
*
Bhil
Bhil or Bheel is an ethnic group in western India. They speak the Bhil languages, a subgroup of the Western Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages. As of 2013, Bhils were the largest tribal group in India.
Bhils are listed as tribal people of t ...
painting
*
Warli
The Warli or ''Varli'' are an indigenous tribe (Adivasi) of western India, living in mountainous as well as coastal areas along the Maharashtra-Gujarat border and surrounding areas. They are considered by some to be a sub-caste of the Bhil tribe ...
painting
*
Gond painting
*
Santhal Santhal may refer to :
Places and jurisdictions
* Santhal Pargana division, in Jharkhand state, (north)eastern India
* Santhal State, former petty princely state in Mahi Kantha, Gujarat, western India
People
* Santhal people (part of the Tea ...
painting
*
Saora painting
* Kurumba painting
Rural Painting:
*
Pattachitra
Patachitra or Pattachitra is a general term for traditional, cloth-based scroll painting, based in the eastern Indian states of Odisha, West Bengal and parts of Bangladesh. Patachitra artform is known for its intricate details as well as mytho ...
painting
*
Madhubani painting
*
Kalamkari
''Kalamkari'' is a type of hand-painted cotton textile produced in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Only natural dyes are used in ''Kalamkari'', which involves twenty-three steps.
There are two distinctive styles of Kalamkari art in India ...
painting
*
Kolam
Kolam (,, ), also known as Muggu () or Tharai Aalangaram () Rangoli () is a form of traditional decorative art that is drawn by using rice flour as per age-old conventions. It is also drawn using white stone powder, chalk or chalk powder, often ...
painting
*
Kalam
''ʿIlm al-Kalām'' ( ar, عِلْم الكَلام, literally "science of discourse"), usually foreshortened to ''Kalām'' and sometimes called "Islamic scholastic theology" or "speculative theology", is the philosophical study of Islamic doc ...
painting
*
Mandana Paintings
Mandana paintings are wall and floor paintings of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, India. Mandana are drawn to protect home and hearth, welcome gods into the house and as a mark of celebrations on festive occasions. Meena women in the Hadoti area ...
Gallery
Image:Indischer Maler um 850 001.jpg
File:Patta Chitra 02.jpg
Image:Meister des Chaurapañchâsikâ-Manuskripts 001.jpg
Image:Indischer Maler um 1595 001.jpg
Image:Portrait of a Stallion, mid 19th century.jpg
Some notable Indian paintings
![Bharat Mata by Abanindranath Tagore](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Bharat_Mata_by_Abanindranath_Tagore.jpg)
*
Hemen Majumdar's "Lady with the Lamp"
* Sudip Roy's "Charulata Series"
*
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
's "Self portrait"
*
Abanindranath Tagore
Abanindranath Tagore ( Bengali: অবনীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 August 1871 – 5 December 1951) was the principal artist and creator of the "Indian Society of Oriental Art". He was also the first major exponent of Sw ...
's
Bharat Mata
Bhārat Mātā ( Mother India in English) is a national personification of India ( Bharat ) as a mother goddess. In the visual arts she is commonly depicted dressed in a red or saffron-coloured sari and holding a national flag; she sometimes ...
*
Aman Singh Gulati
Aman Singh Gulati (born 11 October 2000) is an Indian visual artist. He paints artworks on multiple miniature objects including almonds, matchsticks etc. He achieved multiple national and international awards including multiple world records, ...
's "Almond Portraits Series"
*
Raja Ravi Varma's
Shakuntala
*
Ramkinkar Baij
Ramkinkar Baij ( bn, রামকিঙ্কর বেইজ) (25 May 1906 – 2 August 1980) was an Indian sculptor and painter, one of the pioneers of modern Indian sculpture and a key figure of Contextual Modernism.
Early life and ...
's "Jakkha 0 Jakkhi"
*
Bikash Bhattacharjee
Bikash Bhattacharjee (21 June 1940 – 18 December 2006) was an Indian painter from Kolkata in West Bengal. Through his paintings, he depicted the life of the average middle-class Bengali – their aspirations, superstitions, hypocrisy and co ...
's "Doll-series"
*
Geeta Vadhera's Jogia "Dhoop series"
*
Jahar Dasgupta's "Confrontation"
*
MF Hussain's "Horses-series"
*
Jamini Roy
Jamini Roy ( Bengali: যামিনী রায়) (11 April 1887 – 24 April 1972) was an Indian painter. He was honoured by the Government of India the award of Padma Bhushan in 1954. He remains one of the most famous pupils of Aban ...
's "Jesus"
*
John Wilkins
John Wilkins, (14 February 1614 – 19 November 1672) was an Anglican clergyman, natural philosopher, and author, and was one of the founders of the Royal Society. He was Bishop of Chester from 1668 until his death.
Wilkins is one of the f ...
's "Gossip",
*
Rakesh Vijay
Rakesh Vijay (22 March 1970), professionally known as R. Vijay, is a Rajasthani miniaturist best known for his collaborative work with American artist Waswo X. Waswo. R. Vijay received little formal training and his miniature painting style has ...
"Persian and Mogul styles"
*
Jainul Abedin's "Series on Bengal Famine"
*
Sunil Das's "Bull Series"
*
Devajyoti Ray
Devajyoti Ray is an Indian painter and installation artist whose works attained significance
in the post-liberalization phase of the Indian economy. His works have been exhibited internationally and have been acquired by many art academies. De ...
's "In Despair"
*
Tyeb Mehta
Tyeb Mehta (26 July 1925 – 2 July 2009) was an Indian painter, sculptor and film maker. He was part of the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group and the first post-colonial generation of artists in India, like John Wilkins who also broke fr ...
's "Mahisasur"
*
B. G. Sharma's
Krishna
Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...
miniatures
*
ShakthiDass
Shakthi Dass, also spelt as ShakthiDass or Shakthi Das, is an Indian people, Indian painter, sketcher, and wrapper artist for children's magazines, comics and newspapers for the last four decades.
He has been sketching nonstop professionally for ...
's
*
Amrita-Sher-Gil
Amrita Sher-Gil (30 January 1913 – 5 December 1941) was a Hungarian-Indian painter. She has been called "one of the greatest avant-garde women artists of the early 20th century" and a pioneer in modern Indian art. Drawn to painting from an ear ...
*
M. Narayan's "Indian Ethnic" "Horses" Mother Teresa"
See also
*
Warli Painting
Warli painting is a form of tribal art mostly created by the tribal people from the North Sahyadri Range in Maharashtra, India. This range encompasses cities such as Dahanu, Talasari, Jawhar, Palghar, Mokhada, and Vikramgad of Palghar dist ...
*
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
*
History of painting
The history of painting reaches back in time to artifacts and artwork created by pre-historic artists, and spans all cultures. It represents a continuous, though periodically disrupted, tradition from Antiquity. Across cultures, continents, and ...
*
Eastern art history
*
Cave paintings in India
The history of cave paintings in India or rock art range from drawings and paintings from prehistoric times, beginning in the caves of Central India, typified by those at the Bhimbetka rock shelters from around 10,000 BP, to elaborate frescoes ...
*
The Last Harvest : Paintings of Rabindranath Tagore
*
Rabindra Chitravali
''Rabindra Chitravali'' is a 2011 four-volume set of books by art historian R. Siva Kumar that contains paintings of Rabindranth Tagore. These include about 1700 paintings in the Rabindra Bhavana and Kala Bhavana collections of Visva-Bharati, S ...
Notes
References
*Blurton, T. Richard, ''Hindu Art'', 1994, British Museum Press,
*Chakraverty, Anjan, ''Indian Miniature Painting'', 2005, Lustre Press, , 9788174363343
*
Craven, Roy C., ''Indian Art: A Concise History'', 1987, Thames & Hudson (Praeger in USA),
*Harle, J.C., ''The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent'', 2nd edn. 1994, Yale University Press Pelican History of Art,
*
*"Miniature painting"
Centre for Cultural Resources and Training Indian Government
*"Modern Indian painting"
Centre for Cultural Resources and Training Indian Government
*"Wall paintings",
Centre for Cultural Resources and Training Indian Government
Further reading
*
*
*
* ''Indian Painting'', by
Percy Brown. Published by Y. M. C. A. publishing house, 1960.
* ''Indian Painting'', by Philip S. Rawson. Published by P.Tisné, 1961.
* ''Indian Painting: The Scene, Themes, and Legends'', by Mohindar Singh Randhawa, John Kenneth Galbraith. Published by Houghton Mifflin, 1968.
* ''Indian Painting'', by Douglas E. Barrett,
Basil Gray
Basil Gray, (1904 – 1989), was an art historian, Islamicist, author, and the head of the British Museum's Oriental department.
Early life
Basil Gray was born in 1904 at Kensington, the son to Charles Gray and Florence Elworthy Cowell. His f ...
. Published by Skira, 1978. .
*Kossak, Steven. (1997)
''Indian court painting, 16th–19th century.''Metropolitan Museum of Art.
*
*
*
*
*
*
''A History of Indian Painting: The Modern Period''by Krishna Chaitanya. Published by Abhinav Publications, 1994. .
*
*
*
*
Ramayana by Valmiki illustrated with Indian miniatures from the 16th to the 19th century Diane de Selliers Publisher, 2011,
*
External links
Paintings by Indian ArtistArchaeological Survey of India*Refe
Indian Art FormsCollection of Indian Miniature Paintings;Online exhibits
{{DEFAULTSORT:Indian Painting
painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...