Rama and Hanuman fighting Ravana, Ramayana Painting on Paper British Museum, London |
Tanjore of Thanjavur painting is the ancient art of Tamilnadu region of South India.
Tanjore painting or Thanjavur painting is the art that is as old as the fifteenth and seventeenth century. It was the art of the people of south India living around the City of Thanjavur in the Southern part of India. The language Tamil, spoken mainly in the present-day Tamilnadu state of India and the art of Tamil culture occupy a major chunk of detail in the history of the civilization of India.
The ART: The Tanjore paintings are composed of compactly and coloured vividly.
Moreover, they tend to be rich on the surface. The artists of this style of
painting demand skill from the artists.
The paintings are done in stages. The base of the paintings is made of
local cotton and the cloth is then pasted on a wooden panel. In the final
stages, the artist often uses silver and gold, too, as the material to decorate
the painting. The materials used are glittering gold foils. These foils are
overlaid on the gesso work extensively done. Thus the final painting looks much
shining and decorative. From the local markets, one can purchase copies of
these paintings done by the local artists. The prices of these paintings start
from $200. If the painting is big and much labour is invested, it may cost
higher. But it would be a matter of happiness to have Tanjore painting on the
walls of our house.
Goddess Durga Killing Mahisasur Will, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons |
Kalighat Paintings: Theme: Indian Schools of Paintings. The Kalighat Paintings from
Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The artwork of the artists who had resided
around the area known a Kalighat in present-day Kolkata (Calcutta) is known as
‘Kalighat paintings.
These artists, due to historic
reasons of the British people taking over the rule of this region, have
migrated to this place. Thus the roots of these paintings are in
the Bengal of the nineteenth century.
These Kalighat Painters took the
subjects of Gods and Goddess. Here the Goddess Durga, which is worshipped most
all over India, especially in Bengal during Durga Puja, is shown
as killing the demon Mahisasur.
Subjects depicted and materials used in Kalighat Paintings: Mythological stories are the main source from which these artists of Tanjore painting draw their subjects. The incidences narrated in the epics of Hindu religion, religious books like Mahabharat and Ramayan, are depicted mainly in Thanjavur paintings. The icon of religion, the gods and Goddesses or religious persons occupy the central part of the paintings. In the above paintings, Lord Rama believed as the Incarnation of Lord Vishnu is painted as fighting with the King of Lanka. The incidence is taken from the Hindu epic Ramayana.
The Kalighat painters took their subjects from the religion and mythology,
but they were perhaps the first lot of Indian artists who had started painting
for their customers in all the strata of life, including common men. In
addition to the religious subjects, they have honoured the various subjects
taken from the social surrounding, too. They have tried to infuse the strong
social themes and the social consciousness of the time in their paintings.
Though started in the nineteenth century, the Kalighat painting has reached
recognition during the turn of the century. From the early years of the
twentieth century, this art of painting is regarded as an inventive aesthetic
movement in the Bengal region of India receiving more and more
international attention.
The materials they used for accomplishing their art were very simple and easily
available from the local area. They used simple paper and watercolours to
paint. Their paint brushes were made from the hair of squirrel and calf. The
Kalighat style of paintings has four main characteristics: speaking and
meaningful gestures of the figure painted, perfect and brush strokes carrying
quality and the linear economy.
These painters have taken social aspects like the changed lifestyle of the
urban class of the people and the native villagers. In their paintings, these
artists tried sending messages to the mass of people to remain away from
certain social evils like drinking and the company of unchaste women. [All the images are in Public Domain, taken from Wikimedia Commons]
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