Promoting Indian
Art Form
The modern Indian art movement in Indian painting is considered to have begun in Calcutta in the late nineteenth century. The old traditions of painting had more or less died out in Bengal and new schools of art were started by the British. Initially, protagonists of Indian art such as Raja Ravi Varma drew on Western traditions and techniques including oil paint and easel painting. A reaction to the Western influence led to a revival in primitivism, called as the Bengal school of art, which drew from the rich cultural heritage of India. It was succeeded by the Santiniketan school, led by Rabindranath Tagore‘s harking back to idyllic rural folk and rural life. Despite its country-wide influence in the early years, the importance of the School declined by the ‘forties’ and now it is as good as dead.
What do we do?
Indian artists relied heavily on religious scriptures to draw inspiration Our work is to preserve the joyful dances inherited from our ancestors and make sure that we take them to future generations as well. We also support the artists to find a perfect place to showcase their skills. Finally, we spread the word of each and every Art form to the students.
Paintings Of India
Madhubani
Madhubani Art (or Mithila painting) is a style of Indian painting, practiced in the Mithila region of the Indian subcontinent. This painting is done with a variety of tools, including fingers, twigs, brushes, nib-pens, and matchsticks and using natural dyes and pigments. It is characterised by its eye-catching geometrical patterns.
There is ritual content for particular occasions, such as birth or marriage, and festivals, such as Holi, Surya Shasti, Kali Puja, Upanayana, and Durga Puja.
The paintings were traditionally done on freshly plastered mud walls and floors of huts, but now they are also done on cloth, handmade paper and canvas.
Miniature
At a distance, they are beautiful. On closer examination, they are phenomenal, unravelling stories captured with infinitesimal, intricate details. The world of Miniature Paintings is a kaleidoscope of history, scriptures and the lives of people through the ages.
Defined by delicate brushwork, a mélange of colours, and graceful forms, miniature paintings are so delicate, that even today, with so much modernization, squirrel hair is used to create the brushes used in this art form. Each painting abounds with fine photographic details, capturing even the hair on a character.
Kalamkari
Kalamkari is a type of hand-painted or block-printed cotton textile produced in Isfahan, Iran, and 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 – Srikalahasti style and the Machilipatnam style.
The Srikalahasti style of Kalamkari, where the “kalam” or pen is used for freehand drawing of the subject and filling in the colours, is entirely hand worked. This style flourished in temples centred around creating unique religious identities, appearing on scrolls, temple hangings, chariot banners as well as depictions of deities and scenes taken from the Hindu epics.
Kalighat
Kalighat painting or Kalighat Pat originated in the 19th century in West Bengal, India, in the vicinity of Kalighat Kali Temple, Kalighat, Calcutta.
From the depiction of Hindu gods, god, and other mythological characters, the Kalighat paintings developed to reflect a variety of subjects, including many depictions of everyday life.
The charm of the Kalighat paintings lies in the fact that they captured the essence of daily life and they influence modern artists like the late Jamini Roy even to this day.
Warli
Warli is one of the oldest forms of Indian folk art and has its origins in the Warli region of Maharashtra. This form of tribal art mainly makes use of geometric shapes such as circles, triangles and squares to form numerous shapes depicting life and beliefs of the Warli tribe.
In olden days, Warli art was done on walls on special occasions. The painting would be done over a brown background which would basically be a mixture of mud and cow dung cakes. The white pigment used to draw shapes and figures would be a mixture of rice mixed with water and gum.
