Indian Painting B.A. II Dr. O. P. Parameswaran, Assistant Professor, Department of Fine Arts, Post Graduate Govt. College for Girls, Sector-11, Chandigarh.

Unit-1: History of Indian Painting (BA-3) 4.Folk style 4.1Kalighat Paintings, Calcutta (Bengal)

Introduction: In 1809 a temple in honor of the Goddess Kali was built at Kalighat, a place situated two to three miles south of the centre Calcutta. The splendid temple soon becomes a famous pilgrimage spot. At this time, Calcutta, already the headquarters of British administration in India was rapidly becoming the main centre of British trading interests. In the late-eighteenth century and early years of the nineteenth century, professional Indian artist had been moving to Calcutta.

With the break down of the Mughal patronage, miniature painters from place to place such as Patna and Murshidabad were setting in the city and making pictures for the British. Indian artists soon realized the British interest and began to produce paintings for sale to them.

At the same time, they quickly noticed techniques favored by the British- the use of thin sheets of paper, free washes of water color, pencil or pen-and-ink outlines and shading to suggest rounded forms. Ever quick to absorb new influences, they modified their old ways and adopted some of these practice. Beside Mughal painters, Indian artist belong to a different tradition were also migrating to Calcutta

In parts of Bengal, outside the city- Bankura, Birbhum, Burdwan, Nadia and Hooghly- village patuas or artist minstrel had long existed. They produced painted scrolls illustrating popular stories such as Ramayana and the Krishna Lila and wandered from village to village, singing songs and showing their work. Their style of painting with its free distortion, sharply linear rhythm and bold colors was the exact opposite of Mughal painting and it is no surprise that on arriving in Calcutta, they adjusted less easily to British conditions. For such painters, the Kalighat temple offered immediate scope and spurred by pilgrims demands, some of them settled in its neighborhood

The nature of works: The usage of water color medium facilitated rapid production and since most pilgrims begrudged paying more than one anna for a picture, speed was essential if they were to earn a living. Thin cheap paper was a useful asset and even the British vogue for shaded forms appeared worth acquiring

With a quick sweep of the brush, dramatic effects could be achieved with far less effort than by using the former medium, opaque gouache. By adopting some of these devices, Patna artists liberated themselves from their tightly organized conventions yet invented to maintain a taste for bold and lively shapes and strong designs.

In one further respect, Calcutta opened up new vistas. With its British and urban emphasis, secular and even foreign subjects could be freely incorporated and in the year 1830 to 1840 Kalighat painters included in their repertoire such alien themes as an ‘Englishman on an elephant shooting a tiger’ and ‘jockeys engaged in horse racing’

Throughout this period the years 1830 to 1865 secular themes accounts for at least a portion of Kalighat painting. Some of the paintings depicted are dancing girls and courtesans. Moral principles were also affirmed by illustrating proverbs. These often involved natural history allusions and accordingly creatures such as snakes, fishes, prawns, cats, mice, musk-rats and jackals were at times depicted

The commonest subjects however were Hindu Gods and Goddesses. By 1865, the production of these paintings had been expanded vastly and the style had achieved new heights of rhythmical expression. During this time, orthodox pilgrimage blamed European influences for undermining the old Hindu attitudes to religion and ethics. To ease orthodox sentiments the Kalighat painters responded and gradually new subjects entered their paintings

Besides courtesans, married women were shown standing on their prostrate husbands and enraged husbands appeared beating their wives. The industry is on the declining owing to cheaper colored lithographic representation of Gods and Goddesses turned out by the ex- students of the Calcutta School of Art having appeared in the market. A painting in the old style can still be had, by order, at the price of Rs 10 and upwards.

Products of ‘the machine age’ had, in fact, threatened the painters’ livelihood and in a desperate attempt to rescue their industry, they were now economizing in detail, applying silver paint with reckless abandon, resorting to uncolored line drawings and employing great sweeping curves to suggest the human form. Jamini Roy, a renowned artist in the early of 20th century was inspired by the Kalighat line drawing and adopted the same in his creative painting as the basis for new and modern style.