INDIAN ARTMid 19th Century-Present

Modern Indian Art

India: A country with a Colonial Past

1. Interrogation of Western influences on artistic expression.

2. Pressing need to establish a distinct identity for Indian art.

3. Role and Function of an artist in India.

Mid19th Century Kalighat paintings Raja Ravi Varma

Pre Independence Nationalism Bengal School of Arts Amrita Shergil

Post Independence

Bombay Progressive Society Individualism M.F Hussain, F.N Souza, S.H Raza

TIME LINE

Mid 19th Century Art (1850-1900)

Mid 19th Century• An era of shift from traditional India style of paintings. The techniques of Fresco and Miniature Paintings which were unique to Indian style were slowly being lost.

• By the turn of the century, Traditional Indian paintings fade and Indian culture and heritage was looked with a positive approach and were greatly influenced by colonial European art.

Kalighat Paintings• Originated in 19th century Bengal in

the vicinity of Kalighat temple by traditional Indian artists appointed by the Britishers who set up Kolkata school of art to impart European style of paintings.• The paintings were a unique blend

of East Asian and European style combined with Indian Themes of God and Goddesses and other Mythological characters.• Lack of perspective, Solid color

filled, and the figures engaged in some work shows some of East Asian resemblance.

Ganesha in the lap of Parwati(1880)

Features of his paintings

• Instrumental in introducing European ideals in representational art of India• Distinct features of western paintings is visible in his work such as

Oil Painting Use of contrasting color over dark background Absence of contour lines Portraying Women as a subject Matter and theme

• Mythological subjects and portraiture Depicting episodes from Dushyanta-Shakuntala Nala-Damayanti & Mahabharata.

Raja Ravi Varma

Raja Ravi Varma

Leonardo-da-Vinci

Famous works by Raja Ravi Varma

Saraswati Arjuna and Subhadra Sri Ram conquering Varuna

Hamsa Damayanti Title : Hamsa DamayantiMedium : Oil on canvasDate : 1899Artist : Raja Ravi Varma

• Tale of Damayanti and Nala

• Damayanti, A beautiful women, portrayed very shapely and gracefully wearing a beautiful red sari and listening to the message from her lover NALA which is narrated by a swan.

• The HAMSA(swan) expresses Nala’s love for the women while he talk to her.

• The women is shown patiently listening to the swan with a spark in her eyes and her glowing cheeks.

• The painting is an epitome of silent pure and unadulterated love manifested in the relationship between the swan and the women.

PRE-INDEPEDENCE ART ( 1990-1947)

Pre-IndependenceFeatures:

Rise of Nationalism against Colonialism.Abandoning of foreign art materials like oil

paints and use of organic colours and earth pigments.

Going back to Indian traditional pre-colonial art rejecting Victorian illusionistic art.

Creative freedom and closeness of art to nature was promoted by Bengal School of Art.

BENGAL SCHOOL OF ART

Influence in India

Known as “Indian style of painting' in its early days, it was associated with Indian nationalism (swadeshi movement) and led by Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951), promoted and supported by British arts administrators. Eventually it led to the development of the modern Indian painting.

Arose an Avant garde and nationalist movement reacting against the academic art styles previously promoted in India, both by Indian artists such as Raja Ravi Varma and in British art schools.

“Rejected Western Realism and adopting Idealism of Indian Art”

Semiotic Aspects Colors depicting gloomy and melancholic

emotions by using darker hues. Ganesh Pyne

Monochromatic shades used Rabindranath Tagore

Geometric shapes used in architectural artworks

Shantiniketan glass prayer house

Themes Close to Nature Art-works

Figures which instill feelings of nationalism and patriotism

Poetic surrealism and dark imagery encompassing Indian folklore

Abanindranath Tagore

ARTISTIC INCLINATION: Abanindranath Tagore believed in the traditional Indian techniques of painting,

rejecting the materialistic art of the west. He was very much influenced by the Mughal School of painting as well as

Whistler's Aestheticism. In his later works, Abanindranath started integrating Chinese and Japanese

calligraphic traditions into his style, with the motive to present an amalgamation of the modern pan-Asian artistic tradition and artistic culture.

Some of the famous paintings of Abanindranath Tagore

Bharat Mata The passing of shah jahan Asoka's Queen

Jamini Roy

Revival of Indian pre-colonial art.

Renounced Kalighat Painting for being liberal, urban, and colonial and turned to village scroll painting .

Amrita Sher-Gil Her early paintings shows influence of Western

modes of painting.

Captured poverty and other social issues in India.

Attracted to the poor, distressed and the deprived and her paintings of Indian villagers and women are a meditative reflection of their condition.

Experimented with different art styles. First Western style of realistic human figures. Then trying bold brush strokes and ‘un-realistic’ colours to make paintings emotionally expressive.

Tahitian, Amrita Sher-gil

Young Girls

Tahitian

Amrita Shergil

Paul Gaugin

Post-INDEPEDENCE ART ( 1947-till)

Progressive Artists’ GroupCombined Indian subject matter with Post-Impressionist colours, Cubist forms

and brusque, Expressionistic styles.

Paint with absolute freedom for content and technique, almost anarchic.

Short lived Movement.

Prominent painters emerged which later gained huge individual fame at international level. E.g. M.F.Hussain, F.N.Souza, S.H.Raza etc.

M.F.Husain Pop images of Bollywood art. Practiced modified Cubism. Varied themes such as Ramayana,

Hindu gods and goddesses, Mother Teresa and motifs of Indian urban and rural life.

Bridged the gulf between rural and urban, popular and elite, east and west.

Highly Controversial as his some paintings offended a part of society.

F.N.Souza Subjects comprise of still life, landscape, nudes, icons of Christianity, etc. Figures have been deliberately distorted. Influence of the folk art of Goa, the Renaissance paintings, landscapes of the 18th and 19th

century Europe, etc. Souza shares with Picasso the ruthlessness and intimidating robustness. Referred as “Angry young man of Indian art”

S.H.RazaInitially he was interested in

Expressionistic Landscapes.

geometric abstraction which eventually culminated into the target-like metaphorical icon of Bindu

Not interested in human figures and his paintings are mainly inclined towards abstraction.

RECENT ART

R.K. Laxman• Famous for his cartoons called “The Common Man”• Simple bold contours but with a complex though

behind it.• Satirical drawings connected to the political mood

and the cultural assumptions of the present age

• Features of his Caricatures: Artistic Quality Genuine Sentiments Fresh amusing imagery Lasting Importance.

“His cartoon are an argument and not a slogan”

Contextual Modernism

In Santiniketan: The Making of a Contextual Modernism, Siva Kumar introduced the term Contextual Modernism which later emerged as a postcolonial critical tool in the understanding of Indian art, specifically the works of Nandalal Bose, Rabindranath Tagore, Ram Kinker Baij and Benode Behari Mukherjee.

Group-15Rohit Verma -12589Piyush Gupta -12479Neel Sharma -12437Punkesh Kumar -12522Aditya Raj Somani -12050Nikita Agarwal -12448