Indian painting
.png)
1. Mural paintings
2.Miniature paintings
3.Mughal era paintings
4.Regional school of art
5.Pahari styles of paintings
6.Modern paintings
7.Folk paintings
Bhimbetka Rock Paintings?
It is located south of Bhopal in the Vidhyan ranges of Madhya Pradesh. The rock shelters have more than 500 rock paintings. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.
—The oldest paintings are estimated to be 30,000 years old and have survived due to their location deep inside the caves.
—The paintings at Bhimbetka belong to Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Chalcolithic, early historic and medieval period.
—However, most of the paintings belong to the Mesolithic age.
Q. The painting of Bodhisattva Padmapani is one of the most famous and oft-illustrated paintings at
(a) Ajanta
(b) Badami
(c) Bagh
(d) Ellora
Mural Paintings in India
The works on the walls or a solid structure are referred to as Murals. These have existed in India since ancient times and can be dated between the 10th century BC and the 10th century AD.
—The Mural paintings are unique because of their sheer size. They cannot be contained on paper and need to be executed on the walls of large structures, usually caves and temple walls.
—In the ancient period, these were utilised by three major religions: Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism. Some of the best examples of mural paintings are: Ajanta Cave Paintings, Ellora Cave Paintings, Armamalai Cave Paintings, Jogimara Cave Paintings
Ajanta Cave Paintings:
Ajanta caves were carved in the 4th century AD out of volcanic rocks. It consists of a set of 30 caves, carved in a horse-shoe shape. These caves are quite popular for their exquisite mural paintings that took around four to five centuries to complete under the reign of the Mauryan Empire.
Murals in cave no. 9 and 10 belong to the Sunga period, while the rest belong to the Gupta period.
The walls of the caves have both murals and fresco paintings (painted on wet plaster). They use tempera style, i.e. use of pigments.
The common themes of these paintings range from Jataka stories to life of Buddha to elaborate decorative patterns of flora and fauna.
Ellora Cave Paintings:
The mural paintings in the Ellora caves are found in five caves, mostly limited to the Kailasa temple.
The earlier paintings show Vishnu with his consort Lakshmi borne through the clouds by Garuda, the celestial bird. The later paintings, made in Gujarati style, depict the procession of Shaiva holy men.
Armamalai Cave Paintings:
Armamalai Cave Paintings are situated in the Vellore district of Tamil Nadu, these natural caves were converted into a Jain temple in the 8th century. Unbaked mud structures are located within the cave, which acts like a place of rest for Jain saints.
—The beautiful colourful paintings on the walls and roof depict the tales of Astathik Palakas (deities protecting eight corners) and Jainism.
Jogimara Cave Paintings:
Jogimara Cave Paintings is an artificially carved-out cave located in the Surguja district of Chattisgarh. It is dated back around 1000-300 BC and has a few paintings and inscriptions of a love story in Brahmi script.
The cave is said to be an attachment to the amphitheatre and paintings were made to decorate the room.
Q. Consider the following historical places:
Ajanta Caves
Lepakshi Temple
Sanchi Stupa
Which of the above places is/are also known for mural paintings?
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 2 only
(c) 1, 2 and 3
(d) None
Q. There are only two known examples of cave paintings of the Gupta period in ancient India. One of these is paintings of Ajanta caves. Where is the other surviving example of Gupta paintings?
(a) Bagh caves
(b) Ellora caves
(c) Lomas Rishi cave
(d) Nasik caves
Miniature Paintings
The word ‘miniature’ is derived from the Latin word ‘Minium’, which means red lead paint. This painting was used in illuminated manuscripts during the Renaissance period.
It is generally confused with the word minimum, which would mean that they were small in size. The Indian subcontinent has long traditions of these miniature paintings and many schools developed that have differences in composition and perspective. Miniatures are small and detailed paintings.
—The painting should not be larger than 25 square inches. The subject of the painting should be painted in not more than 1/6th of the actual size.
—They usually have bulging eyes, pointed nose and slim waist.
Two prominent schools of early miniature paintings are:
1)Pala School of Art:
2)Apabhramsa School of Art
Transition Period Miniature: The coming of the Muslims on the Indian subcontinent was a sign of change and brought forth a cultural renaissance in the 14th century.
Miniature Art During Delhi Sultanate
These paintings tried to bring together the Persian elements of their origins with the Indian traditional elements.
The finest example from this period is the Nimatnama (a book on cookery) during the reign of Nasir Shah who ruled over Mandu.
Mughal Era Miniature Painting:
The paintings made in the Mughal period had a distinctive style as they were drawn from Persian antecedents.
There was a change in colour palette, themes and forms. The focus shifted from depicting the god to glorifying the ruler and showing his life.
They focused on hunting scenes, historical events and other court related paintings.
—The painters were supposed to concentrate on ensuring the accuracy of line drawings
—They brought the technique of foreshortening to the Indian painter’s repertoire. Under this technique, “objects were drawn in a way that they look closer and smaller than they really are.”
Rajasthani Schools of Painting: It is more or less synonymous to the Rajput school of paintings. There are several sub- genres of Rajasthani paintings which correspond to their princely state of origin.
Mewar School of Painting: Mewar painting is dominated by the extraordinary figure of Sahibdin. This period of Mewari painting focuses on Sahibdin’s depiction of literary texts – the Rasikapriya, the Ramayana and the Bhagavata Purana.
The unique point of this period is the extraordinary ‘tamasha’ paintings that show court ceremonial and city views in unprecedented detail.
Kishangarh School of Painting: Paintings at Kishangarh is associated with the most romantic legends – Sawant Singh and his beloved Bani Thani, and of the intertwining of lives and myths, romance and bhakti. It is sometimes argued that the women in ‘bani thani’ is said to resemble the character of Radha.
Pahari Styles of Painting: This style of painting developed in the sub-himalayan states that were also under the umbrella of Mughal over lordship. Hence, the Pahari paintings can be grouped into two groups:
1.Jammu or Dogra School: Northern Series
2.Basholi and Kangra School: Southern Series
A typical Pahari painting would bring several figures into the canvas. Each figure is different in composition, colour and pigmentation.
Basholi School: This was the early phase and expressive faces with a receding hairline and big eyes that are shaped like lotus petals characterise it. These paintings use a lot of primary colours, i.e. red, yellow and green. They used the Mughal technique of painting on clothing but developed their own styles and techniques.
Kangra School: These paintings were marked with a sensuality and intelligence that the other schools lacked. The very famous group of paintings is the ‘Twelve Months’ where the artist tried to bring forth the effect of the twelve months on the emotions of human beings.
Tanjore Paintings: The Thanjavur or Tanjore School is famous for the special style of decorative paintings. The Maratha rulers patronized them during the 18th century.
These paintings are unique as they are mostly created on glass and board instead of cloth and vellum pruse of gold leaf are uniqueness of these paintings.eferred in north India. Use of brilliant colour patterns and the liberal
They used many types of gemstones and cut glasses for embellishments to create larger than life images.
These paintings reached their zenith under the patronage of Sarfoji Maharaj who was a great patron of arts.
—Mysore Paintings: These paintings were patronised by the rulers of the Mysore province and continued in the British period too.
—The major theme of the Mysore paintings is the depiction of Hindu gods and goddesses. The unique part of these paintings is that they had two or more figures in each painting and one figure predominates all the others in size and colour.
—These paintings use the technique of the ‘gesso paste’, which is a mixture of zinc oxide and Arabic gum. This gives a particular base to the painting that develops sheen on the background.
—They counter it with the use of muted colours that are not so bright so as to counteract the background.
—Bengal School of Art:
—The Bengal school is supposed to have a reactionary approach to the existing styles of paintings in the 1940s –1960s. This school is unique as they use simple colours.The idea of the Bengal school came up with the works of Abhanindranath Tagore in the early 20th century. He tried to incorporate Swadeshi values in Indian art and tried to reduce the influence of Western art style among artists.
—He is known for his painting Bharat Mata and various Mughal-themed paintings.
—The other notable painter of this school is Nandlal Bose. He was also entrusted with the task of illuminating the original document of the Constitution of India.
—Raja Ravi Verma
He is considered to be the originator of the school of modern painting. The school was called ‘modern’ because of the heavy influence of Western techniques and themes.
He was unique as he brought together elements of South Indian painting with the Western techniques of colour and style. He belonged to the state of Kerala and was dubbed as the ‘Raphael of the East’ because of his brilliant brush strokes and almost lifelike paintings.
Some of his very famous works include Lady in the Moonlight, Mother India, etc. He gained nationwide recognition for his paintings from the epic Ramayana, especially the one titled ‘Ravana Kidnapping Sita’.
A film has been made recently on him named “Rang Rasiya”.