Raj Man Singh Chitrakar ( ne, राजमानसिंह चित्रकार; IAST: rāja māna siṃha citrakāra) (1797 – 1865) was a mid-19th century Nepalese artist, who worked for the British and Nepalese courts producing a large number of pictures. He especially contributed to the illustration of natural history subjects, particularly birds, and in his

watercolor painting Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

he introduced European styles into a traditional scene dominated by votive art. Raj Man Singh was the first to apply the Western concepts of lighting and perspective, and is credited for the appearance of three-dimensional effects in Nepalese painting. Scholars have described him as a pioneer in Nepalese art, although largely unknown until Brian Houghton Hodgson's tutelage.

Art and background

Raj Man Singh was born in

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

to a family of hereditary artists, the Newar caste of

Chitrakar Chitrakar (Devanagari: चित्रकार) is a caste within the Newar community of the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. The Newar caste system is divided according to profession. Accordingly, Chitrakars were painters and mask makers. In Nepal B ...

. Accordingly, he engaged in painting

paubha A paubhā (Devanagari: पौभा) is a traditional religious painting made by the Newar people of Nepal. Paubhas depict deities, mandalas or monuments, and are used to help the practitioners in meditation. The Tibetan equivalent is known as ...

paintings and other religious art. He came to the attention of

Brian Houghton Hodgson Brian Houghton Hodgson (1 February 1800 or more likely 1801 – 23 May 1894) was a pioneer naturalist and ethnologist working in India and Nepal where he was a British Resident. He described numerous species of birds and mammals from the Hima ...

, the British Resident stationed in Kathmandu who was also a scholar of the religions, languages, literature, ethnology and zoology of the

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

. Hodgson was looking for an artist to the make watercolor paintings of the birds and mammals he was studying for his collection, and he hired Raj Man Singh to do them. Under Hodgson's guidance, the traditional artist, used to painting pictures of deities as per ancient texts, mastered the new technique of observing subjects in their natural habitat and making lifelike representations on paper. He produced thousands of works of remarkable quality for Hodgson from the 1820s to the 1850s.

Honors

Pheasant by raj man singh chitrakar c1856

The little-known Raj Man Singh has recently been recognized as a leading figure following revelations of his ground-breaking work. On 31 December 2012, the Postal Services Department of the government of Nepal issued two commemorative postage stamps showing a portrait of the artist to honor his contribution to the development of 19th century art in Nepal. The stamps also show examples of his watercolor paintings of birds and mammals.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chitrakar, Raj Man Singh 1797 births 1865 deaths Nepalese illustrators Nepalese painters Newar people People from Kathmandu Nepalese watercolourists 19th-century Nepalese painters

Art and background

Honors

See also

References