Holiday Homework (resubmission)

Delhi Breadth Assignment

From the many images that we saw in Delhi, for this assignment you should pick one to focus on for your next AP breadth piece.

Drawing inspiration from this piece, you are to make an artwork that is based on it in one or more of the following ways:

-- Composition
-- Color Scheme
-- Subject Matter
-- Concept

Many artists use older works to make new pieces – Picasso did this in the 20th century, basing work on Greek mythology from the ancient world, or from Spanish master paintings from the 17th century.  It is a standard practice in artmaking, to come up with your own version of an older artist’s work.  The work is still different from the original, but plays with tradition in a modern way.

The tradition of Indian art – either miniature paintings, or more recently, from the 20th century – is a rich springboard that is open to anyone’s interpretation.  You can either play with ideas that you have been exploring already, or try something completely new.

You may use a piece that you sketched from in person, or find an image online, but it should be from one of the artists or schools that we encountered on our field trip.

DUE DATE: MARCH 1

Delhi Assignment

Rajput Miniature Art

Rajput Miniature Art traces its roots all the way back to the Mughals. In 1555, Emperor Humayun brought along Persian painters who excelled in this school of painting. This style flourished in India, especially under Akbar, who encouraged Hindu painters to utilize this form and also add more of their own culture into it. Soon, these painters were serving in courts of Rajasthani or Rajput rulers. Characteristics of Rajput Miniature Art include scenes from daily life. Inspired by their Mughal predecessors, they are painted with close attention to detail and in bold colours representing the romantic lives that they depict. Ananda Coomaraswamy, a pioneer of Miniature art divided it into several schools of art, more or less basing it on the areas to which they were popular to. The main schools of miniature art are Mewar, Bundi, Kotah, Marwar, Bikaner, Jaipur, and Kishangarh. Apart from the different origins of these groups, they also have a few distinctions in their content. For example, the school of Mewar had bold lines and burning colours, whereas Bundi was gentler, and more lyrical.

http%3a%2f%2fwww.wiki.indianfolklore.org%2fimages%2f8%2f87%2fRajasthan_miniature.pdf

Francis Newton Souza

Francis Newton Souza was born in the village of Saligao, Goa on April 12th, 1924. He was educated in St. Xavier’s College in Bombay, but was expelled for drawing graffiti in the toilets. However, he claims that he was only improving on a previous drawing, just because he thought it was very ugly. Later, he attended the Sir J.J School of Art, one of India’s most prestigious art schools, but expelled in 1945 due to his support of the Quit India Movement. Souza’s style of work has been defined as expressionistic. He has had wide recognition in the West. The Times of India describes it as this: "Be it the sluts or the suits, the seamy side of life or the steamy, the gnomish, pox-scarred boy from Goa who went on to become one of the first Indian artists to be feted in the salons of Europe, laid it bare."
A strong Catholic, many of Souza’s paintings focus on scenes from the Bible. His other inspirations include a strong sense of patriotism. Though Souza eventually moved to London, and then to New York soon after, he visited his home country every winter. He enjoys the use of bold colours and also erotic scenes, which he says were both inspired by the Indian culture. He also founded the Bombay Progressive Artist’s Group, which is still active today in producing avant-garde works of art.

http://www.fnsouza.com%2f
http://.contemporaryindianart.com%2ffrancis_newton_souza.htm

Delhi Trip assignment

Deccani School Of Painting

The development of Deccani School of painting started during the times when Adil Shahi, Nizam Shahi and Qutub Shahi once ruled in Bijapur. They supported in the development of this school. Deccani was inspired from the Mughal School and progressed to its own unique and distinctive style. The development of Deccani started from 1526 when the Muslim courts of Ahmednagar. Bjapur and Golconda joined as the leading authorities in the southern part. Later they became the most argumentative neighbors of the Hindu Kingdom of Vijaynagar. Later again on the same year they stood together and demolished the rich capital of Vijaynagar, but the alliance at once faded and the three went their own ways. After this period the conquerors took in many cultural characters of their Hindu opponents and employed many local craftsmen of medieval art styles of southern India. Deccani thrived in the 16th and 17th century but slowly faded away in the 18th and 19th century. A multicultural civilization containing of Indian Muslims, Hindus, Persians, Turks, Arabs and African, formed the modern symbolic expression that has been compared to an incredible, fantastic mood of an illusion. Pre Mughal styles of painting as well as Persian, Turkish and even European societies and tradition represented as substances to the blossoming of tiny painting in the midpoints of Ahmednagar, Bijapur, Golconda and Hyderabad. There was a painting known as Nujum-al-Ulum, a richly demonstrated reference work painted at 1570 in the Chester Beatly Library at Bijapur with a total of 876 tiny paintings in this work. There were numerous paintings showing weapons, utensils and constellations too. Other series of paintings consisted of the spiritual leaders of aspects of the earth who are portrayed as forbidding ladies in the South Indian dress, tall and slim as those in the Ragamala paintings.Ibrahim Adil Shah (II), who was the king of Bijapur in the 14th-15th century AD, loved painting and flourished from Deccani along with many other artists. His portrait is available in different museums in the world. Deccani School of painting’s skill, magnificence, talent and lushness can be signified and symbolized from the best portraits of Adil Shah which are available at the British Museum and also in the Lalgarh palace at Bikaner. He was the owner of Nujum-al-Ulum’s document. He had many successful compositions too. The picture here is in the Islamic Persian tradition especially the arabesques on the top of the throne, but conquered by a truly Deccani piece of plants and leaves against the deep blue sky.


http://www.indianetzone.com/23/deccani_school_painting.htm





Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore was born in 1862 in Bengal and expired on 1941. His father Debendranath Tagore was a leading light of the Brahmo Samaj. It is a new religious group in the 19th century Bengal and which attempted a renewal of the final monistic foundation of Hinduism as placed down in the Upanishads. He did not go to school but when he turned seventeen, he went to England for formal schooling but again did not finish his studies there. When he grew up, he took part in many activities which made him closer in touch with common humanity and made him gain his attention in social reforms. He also put use of his Upanishadic principles of education when he started a trial school at Shantiniketan. Later in life he gradually took part in the Indian nationalist movement. A few years after 1915 when British Government was ruling he resigned the honor as a protest against British policies in India. He wrote many writings in his native Bengal and was well known in the West. Later he became very famous and was taken across continents for lectures and tours of friendship and he became the voice of India’s spiritual heritage and he was inspired by many people living in West Bengal. He was an artist of every kind. His writings summed up to fifty with some of his of volumes of poetry. He wrote numerous volumes of short stories and novels too. He even wrote musical dramas, essays of every kind, travel diaries and two autobiographies. He was the first to win Nobel Prize for literature in 1913 as a non-European.


http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1913/tagore-bio.html

Research Assignment

Siddharth Gurung

Class XII

AP Studio Art

Krishen Khanna:

Krishen Khanna is a famous Indian contemporary artist who was born in Lyallpur in 1925, which was a part of India back then, but because of the partition it is now in Pakistan. He currently lives in Pakistan; Faisalabad. Krishen Khanna traveled a lot in his lifetime he also lived in Shimla during the partition period of India and Pakistan. Khanna learned and developed his great artsy talents in Mayo school of art in Lahore. Khanna started arts when there was not so much of scope and glitz for arts. He was later moved to Mumbai due to his work, he used to work in Grindlays Bank. Khanna was later asked to join the Progressive Artist’s group with which he associated for rest of his time. Krishen held his first major exhibition and sold his first painting to Dr. Homi Bhabha for the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Krishen was always motivated and supported by his father and wife also to pursue his career as an artist. Khanna has received many awards for his hard work, passion and interest for art. Krishen received the Rockefeller fellowship in 1962. He was also a residence artist at the American University in Washington in 1963-1964. He has also participated in many exhibitions like in Tokyo Biennale 1957 and 196 1, the Sao Paulo Biennale 1960, the Venice Biennale 1962, the Festival of India in the then USSR and in Japan in 1987 and 1988. Khanna was also awarded Padma Shri in 1996. His masterful maneuver of painting evokes the unmatched feelings of human situation. The thickness of paint in his artwork often seems like a prism through figures can be distinguished. . His earlier works are replicas of scenes that have imprinted themselves on his mind during the partition.

Kalighat Painting:

Kalighat is an actually a locality of Kolkata India, which is very densely populated and has a very rich culture. Kalighat painting is a form of art which was originated in Bengal in the 19^th century, which was very popular in the rural areas during that time. It is named after the temple in Kolkata which was situated on the banks of river Adi Ganga. This painting is done on clothes and patas. Kalighat painting is famous for its generously curving figures both of men and women. In Kalighat painting they used to depict the Gods and goddesses and historic and epics. Villagers used to perform this type of painting; while they travelled they used to carry their scroll paintings with them and sang the scenes from the epics that were depicted on the painting. Kalighat pata pictures are highly sophisticated, it does not give much importance to perspective and are usually created using pen and ink a drawing filled with flat bright colors and mostly uses paper as a substrates. The artists who used to do Kalighat style painting back then were rarely educated. Kalighat paintings also expressed European influences and innovations; it also expresses the wonder that ordinary Bengalis felt on exposure the European influences. Kalighat paintings are still created now days although genuine work is hard to find. This art form is very urban and hugely secular.

Delhi Research Assignment

Company Painting is a particular school of painting which formed during the British rule in India back in the 18th century. It originated as the British East India Company extended its expeditions across South Asia, for which many British employees settled in India. Landing in the foreign and exotic environment, they wished to capture every aspect of the land and its culture, and knew better than to get British painters. Hence, they hired local Indian artists to paint for them in order tomaintain the authentic cultural element in the paintings.“Aesthetically, they are the descendants of the picturesque scenes of India created by the likes of Thomas and William Daniell.”[1]The medium used for these company paintings was water color instead of gouache (a medium similar to water color except heavier and more opaque with the ratio of pigment to water was higher and particles were larger). The paintings reflected the particular region from which they arose. This meaning that the local traditions heavily influenced the styles of the company paintings.

This company painting depicts six soldiers with their uniforms specific to their posts.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Painting_of_six_figures_depicting_military_uniforms.jpg

Amrita Sher-Gil was born, in Budapest, in 1913, to Sardar Umrao Singh Shergil (Punjabi) and Marie Antoinette (Hungarian). She grew up in Budapest while the First World War broke out. Due to the dismal events occurring at the time, the Sher-Gils were afraid to head back to India right away. Even after the war ended, their plans to return to India were yet again delayed due to Communist uprisings that occurred in 1919. Growing up, Amrita went back and forth, quite a bit, between Europe and India. Her early childhood paintings were influenced by the Hungarian folklore which her mother used to tell her and her sister, Indira. During her late teens and early twenties, she was sent to Paris, the European capital, for art training. She adapted well into Parisian lifestyle, although she eventually tired of the elite lifestyle. Her art at the time was mostly nude charcoal works. Eventually, she returned to India where her art style took a slight turn, as she began to focus on romanticizing Indian poverty.She then went on to proclaim that her real artistic mission was to “interpret the life of Indians and particularly the poor Indians, pictorially”[2]. However, she is known for the inconsistency in her work. She herself admitted, “My sense of form on the other hand is developing only now and still has a strong tendency to evade me. It very often happens that I grasp it only for a short period and only sections of my painting are good as a consequence.”[3]Some of her many works include Mother India, Three Girls, Self Portrait, and A Hungarian Peasant.

Mother India

http://www.sikh-heritage.co.uk/arts/amritashergil/motherindia.jpg

---

[1]Sardar, Marika. "Company Painting in Nineteenth-Century India". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art

History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

. (October 2004)

[2&3] "Untitled Document."Sikh Heritage.Web. 14 Feb. 2012.

heritage.co.uk/arts/amritashergil/amritashergill.html>.

VS Gaiotonde

Mysore Tradtion

Contextual Research Assignment

BENGAL SCHOOL OF ART

The Bengal School of Art was a movement of art that thrived in India in the early 20^th century. The style of art associated with Indian Nationalism during the time when the nation was still a British Colony – it was a revitalization of Indian culture, history and spirituality. The Bengal School triggered an innovative surge to react against the western academic art styles that were previously promoted by both the Indian and British art schools. The themes that revolved around this form of art involved romantic and misty representations of the Indian terrain, historical sites as well as the depiction of the life in the countryside. Embracing the more traditional methods of creating art (using indigenous techniques as well as media) was difficult for the artists of the time who were more accustomed to western methods and inspirations. This nationalist movement was initiated by Abanindranath Tagore as well as British art teacher Ernest Binfeil Havell who tried to change the teaching methods at the Calcutta School of Art by encouraging students to adopt the Mughal style of art, the students however found this attempted reform degenerating.



Abanindranath Tagore, The Passing of Shah Jahan, oil on board, 1902.



The Modernist ideas that began to form in the 1920’s caused the Bengal School’s influence on creating traditional art to decline severely.   

http://ngmaindia.gov.in/sh-bengal.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_school_of_art

JAMINI ROY lived from the April of 1887 to the April of 1972. Though he was brought up in a middle-class family of land-owners in the village of Beliatore in Bengal, he spent the majority of his life in Calcutta where he had moved to at the age of 16 to study in the Government School of Art (GSA). There he learnt to paint in the then dominant style of western art that consisted of drawing Classical nudes and using oil paints. He received his diploma in Fine Arts in 1908 but soon discovered that he had a perpetual fervor for creating art that was inspired by his own ethnic Indian culture rather than the western cultures he had studied in GSA. Roy began to focus on Kalighat Pat (folk and tribal art) and soon after became enthralled in his fascination in the Santhal (traditional) dance. He adopted this new style as a reaction against the Bengal School and the Western cultures that dominated Indian Art and deprived it of making its mark in the international world of art. Roy wanted to depict the look of simplicity of the folk people as well as make art accessible to people from diverse backgrounds. He was once quoted:

"I am least bothered whether my paintings is good or bad, and I feel that it is no concern of mine. My sole desire is to make my paintings look different."

Roy liked using the cheap indeginous pigments for his artworks which was not something many contemporary artists had experimented with at that point in time.

Dancing Gopi (Maiden), Jamini Roy , Gouache on paper.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamini_Roy

http://www.contemporaryindianart.com/jamini_roy.htm

http://www.calcuttaweb.com/people/jamini.shtml

http://sos-arsenic.net/lovingbengal/patchitra.html

Delhi research assignment

S.H. Raza
Sayed Haider Raza also known as S.H. Raza was born in 1922 in Madhya Pradesh, India. He studied in the Napur School of Art and the Sir J.J. School of Art. He had several exhibitions in India and afterwards he went to France to study painting at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts. In 1959 he married Janine Mongillat, a French artist. He received many awards such as the Prix de la Critique and the Padama Shri. He was also invited to be a lecturer at the art department of Berkeley in the University of California in 1962. He is known for the use of vibrant and strong colors. He uses simple geometric shapes. A lot of his works include a circular shape which represents the energy and creativity. Currently he lives and works in Paris and Gorbio, France.

Kalighat Paintings

Kalighat Painting is one of the traditional Indian Art which originated in the 19th century in Bengal. Paintings are mainly focused on various Hindu Gods and Goddesses because it originally started from the Kalighat temple in Kolkata, India. However, artists did not restrict themselves to religious themes and drew daily life paintings. Paintings worked as a voice against the evils of the society. Villagers who travelled from place to place painted the Kalighat Painting often. They were mostly done on the cloth or patas which made the artist to be called patuas, the painter on cloth.

Delhi research assignment

Kalighat School of
art

The Kalighat School of art gets its name from its street
(Kalighat) in Kolkata which has a Kali temple in it. This art form emerged
during the early 1800s, and became more prominent when the British occupied
India. The British were interested in the arts, and had established institutes
that educated Indian artists in a European manner. One of these schools in
Kolkata influenced the traditional form of art in Kolkata, and merged to create
the Kalighat School of art. Although this school of art's name revolves around
Kali (a Hindu god), and revolves around themes of Hindu gods, its art pieces
also includes other themes within them

Kalighat paintings make use of bold lines, and vibrant colours, with a simplistic background. Its
simplistic background helps in making its bold lines, and vibrant colours stick
out, and thus focuses more on the subject in the center as seen here :

http://www.mapinpub.in/bookinfo.php?id=163

http://www.vamuseum.in/kalighat-paintings

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalighat_painting

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DohzvhUZ6IQ/ThSP7U9G9EI/AAAAAAAALFA/8kdcH_czBzk/s1600/Bhairavi+-+19th+Century+Kalighat+Painting.jpg

Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore was a philosopher and was a symbolic
figure to the changes in several arts and India. He was born on the 7th of May
1861, and died on 7th of August 1941. His works in literature were aberrations,
and looked at positively, as it brought a fresh breath of air. His themes
revolved around more personal and political topics, which were influenced by
the British occupation of India during his lifetime. He was also a part of the
Bengal renaissance, which was similar to the European renaissance, as they
strived for freedom.

He was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1913. He started gaining recognition for his works worldwide
during the early 1900s, where he traveled from Europe to America, and stopped
along a few South East Asian countries on his way back to India. He was very
involved in contributing literary works to magazines since an early age, and
this might have been an encouraging factor for him as people responded favorably
to his works. He is well known for his short stories, as they usually consisted
of rhythm, optimism, and were lyrical. His contributions to the present era can
be seen in the two national anthems that he had composed for India, and
Bangladesh. His poems and other works are still famous today as they have
influenced other poets like Pablo Neruda, and Gabriela Minstral, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tagore3.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore

http://www.calcuttaweb.com/tagore/

Delhi Research Assignment

Pahari Miniature & SH Raza

               Pahari paintings developed from 17^th to 19^th centuries in the present state of Himachal Pradesh. These paintings were influenced by painters of Mughal. Pahari miniatures are known for their soft touch, calmness, impulse, characteristic symbolism, excellent sense of composition, and minute details and a deep feeling for human emotion. Pahari paintings contain the indigenous style in spite of the Mughal influence. Also, they have Indian mythological and religious stories. The paintings were done on handmade paper, which is made of bamboo, cotton and other materials. This painting had two principal phases of development. The earlier phase started from the mid- 17^th century. It was extraordinarily colorful with primitive expressions charged with energy and emotional intensity.  These phases could be distinguished by fish which was shaped elongated eyes, oval faces, receding foreheads, round chins and prominent noses. Backgrounds of the paintings were usually red, yellow, green or brown colors. The later phase was developed from the 18^th century in the Guler area. This phase was more naturalistic with lines that seemed to be flowing in a rhythmic way. The color scheme also became slightly cooler and freshness. Pahari miniature started to decline in the 19^th century.

Bibliography

           Sharma, Vijay. "The World of Pahari Miniature Painting ." No 1 Ranked  Website on Himachal     Pradesh.Tourist Places Hotels Trekking Yoga Reiki. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. <http://www.123himachal.com/pahari_painting.html>.

           "Pahadi Miniature Paintings." India Picks - The Pick of Indian Topics. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. <http://www.indiapicks.com/Indianart/Main/MP_Pahadi.htm>.

           Web. 14 Feb. 2012. http://download.nos.org/332courseE/L-9%20PAHARI%20SCHOOL%20OF%20MINIATURE%20PAINTING.pdf.

         Syed Haider Raza is born on 22^nd February 1922 in Madhya Pradesh. He lived and worked in France since 1950. His works are mainly abstracts in oil or acrylic, with a very rich use of color, full with icons from Indian cosmology as well as its philosophy. He had his first exhibition in1946 at Bombay Art Society Salon and was awarded the Silver Medal of the society. He started out his career as a semi-abstract landscape artist. But towards the beginning of the 70s his style evolved into creating geometrical designs. He used colors that are primarily Indian and are quite vivid and brilliant in nature. S.H.Raza’s painting titled ‘Saurashtra’ became the most expensive Indian painting ever auctioned. Christie’s auctioned the painting for $3.5 million. It is painted in acrylic on canvas and is a composition in bright colors and cubic shapes that emanate from the artist's trademark 'bindu' or the dot to transform into bigger and complex shapes. He believed it symbolized energy and painted series of painting in this theme. He is one of the founders of the Progressive Art Movement in India and has made Paris his home since the 1950s. He is currently 88 years old and lives in Paris and Gorbio.

Bibliography

            "Monsoon Canvas." Online Indian Art Gallery – Modern and Contemporary Artworks. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. http://monsooncanvas.com/Modern_Indian_masters_introduction.php?page=S.H.Raza.

"S. H. Raza." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._H._Raza>.

Research

Nasreen Mohamedi's work- Untitled.

Nasreen Mohamedi:

Nasreen Mohamedi was born in Karachi in 1937 and brought up in the vibrant city of Bombay. After graduating from the St. Martin’s School of Art in London from 1954 to 1957, she returned to India and joined the Bhulabhai Institute of Art and became one of the leading artists working in the non-figurative medium. Mohamedi travelled across Europe and the inspiration behind her work ranges from the work of Kandinsky and Malevich to the quiet desert sand dunes. Her body of work seems like a abstract representation of the quiet, structural undertones of nature that one rarely experiences. For the viewer, it brings the idea of the moment of calm before a storm to the forefront. Mohamedi lived through a time of war as 1947 marked the end of 200 year old British colonization and brought independence to a country that had been completely debilitated by a struggle for freedom. One may attribute the abstract nature of Mohamedi’s work to the disillusionment caused by the time she lived in. Pinning Nasreen Mohamedi’s work to a particular art movement has its own obstacles. The artist’s work is largely abstract and difficult to read. Apart from that, she also refuses to title her work which makes associating any kind of meaning to her paintings or photographs extremely challenging. Her work may also be interpreted as a contradiction to the place she lived in. After attaining its independence, India was growing exponentially in the fields of economy and culture and Mohamedi’s simple, unstructured style does not seem like a literal testament to her surroundings. Her work is also thought of as feminist as she seems to be in rebellion of her surroundings. Nasreen Mohamedi died in 1990 of Parkinson’s disease.

http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/nasreen_mohamedi/

http://apt5.asiapacifictriennial.com/artists/artists/nasreen_mohamedi

http://artcritical.com/2003/12/01/nasreen-mohamedi/

http://www.iniva.org/library/archive/people/m/mohamedi_nasreen

Miniature Mughal Art:

A art movement that marked one of the most powerful and glorious reigns in the history of India, miniature Mughal art can be described as a “true mirror of its times” (Indian-art.net) It was developed under the reign of kings Akbar, Jehangir and Shah Jehan. Miniature Mughal art was characterized by small, realistic images of literally, everything. Mughal paintings were an amalgamation of Persian, Indian and Islamic styles. Often, because the rulers wanted proof of their hunting ventures, the artists would accompany them which may be why the paintings seem to have a sense of grandeur (also due to the use of colors like gold, silver, deep yellows and reds) and extravagance to them. Most miniature paintings require a meticulous turn of the hand, immense attention and patience. The themes of most paintings being naturalistic, miniature paintings are often seen as celebration of the environment. Because of the Mughal’s prolific rule, miniature painting spread to other dynasties as well. For example: Damodar miniature painting also has its roots in Mughal miniature painting. This art form was also introduced to create an awareness of the Mughal power. Under kings Akbar and Babur this art form flourished and lead to the creation of masterpieces such as the Akbarnama and Surat e khana. This art form was supported mostly by the wealthy and also acts as a foundation for other related styles, such as the:

Mandu - The Style flourished during 15th Century during the period of Gayas Khilzi, dominated by Persian influence.

Chaurpanchashika - The early style prior to Mughals, responsible for the paintings of Champawati and Bilhan.

Western Gujrat - The style prior to Mughals in which mainly Jain texts were illustrated.

Imperial Mughal - The painting style flourished when the Mughals were dominating.

Sub-imperial Mughal - The style having regional and Akbari influence.

Bazar Mughal - The late paintings of Mughal Period, mainly for sale.

Avadh - Provincial Mughal

Murshidabad - Provincial Mughal

Some historians also argue that this art form was brought to India by emperor Humayun after his exile as he returned to his throne with Persian artists and gave rise to a new art form.

http://www.indianminiature.org/artSchools.htm

http://www.damodararts.com/mughal-miniature-art.htm

http://mughalminiatures.blogspot.in/

Jesuits at Akbar's Court.

Delhi Trip Research Work

1) Ancient Indian painting styles involves great diversity and Pahari Miniature School, also known as Pahari Qualam, forms a significant part of it. This style involves smudging smooth stone and other natural colors onto the ‘Sialkoti paper’ which is special hand-crafted paper made from number of materials including bamboo and cotton and is eminent for tender coloring and emotional depiction. The name is directly translated to ‘painting from mountainous land’ as it derives from the Himalayan hills in the region of Punjab, Garhwal and Jammu, India. Although originally a mere local traditional art, it was affected by the Mughal painters and their art from Delhi and Rajasthan when they found refuge there during the Persian invasion of Nadir Shah. Pahari Miniature generally expresses Indian mythology and religious tales, along with emphasis on the beauty of nature and occasionally portrait paintings of its patrons. Under the
patronization of many small hill-states’ kings it was gradually spread towards various areas

including Tehri, Pathankot and Kullu, nevertheless, it began to decline during the 19^th century after it had established its uniqueness. The main centers of Pahari School in the modern days can be discovered in many locations such as Kangra, Mandi, Bilaspur and more.

Raga Panchama-Miniature Painting, 9x7 inches

2) Pakhal Tirumal Reddy was a prolific artist, sculptor and also one of the significant figures in the modern art movement in India. Born in a small village of Annaram, Andhra Pradesh in 1915 he developed special passion for art and eventually received diploma in painting from J.J. School of Arts, Bombay in 1939. Soon in 1941 he established a group of artists named ‘Young Turks’ and went onto introduce and actively promoting the ‘Modern Art Movement’ from Europe in India, which was dominated by the more classical traditional arts. On the more personal level, he initially focused on realistic style and later developed more unique style with influences from both Indian traditional and Post-Impressionist works using various methods ranging from etching and sculpting beside water color and oil paintings. During his career he won different

awards such as Dolly Cursetji award and even after his death, P.T. Reddy Museum of Arts named after him has been found in 1972 where approximately 3000 pieces of his works including sculptures, paintings and more are stored.

Sri Antyakula Paidiraju

Indian Art History RESEARCH

COMPANY PAINTINGS:

Company Paintings stimulated during the late 1700’s in different cities across India. During this time, the British colony was in control of India, the colonized. Many English travelers began to move into India from England for both long term and short term trips. During these trips, many modern travelers documented their visits through photographs. On the other hand, many aesthetic travelers preferred the subject matter of original hand paintings depicting different localities, nature, and architecture around India. These European travelers hired Indian artists to paint these still life’s for them to then take back home to England. The appreciation of India along with the skill of its own people came together in a unique synthesis and visual form between the colony and the colonized to evoke rich historical artwork with a foreign touch. This traditional watercolor and ink fusion of early European style art expressed by Indian artists who painted traditional Indian relics expressed skills of shading and linear perspective. Detailed lines and the use of royal and neutral tones such as deep blues and browns added to the images. Prior to this artwork, traditional Mughal paintings were famous. Once the British colonizers began to take over much of the country, the Company Paintings took off. It can be said that both the foreign travelers along with the traditional Indian artists supported this painting style. This hybrid and blend between the Indian people and the protectorate was an ironic outcome with artwork of its own.

Bengal River Fish, ca. 1804 India; Calcutta School. Pencil, gouache, watercolor, and gilding on paper.

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/2004.176

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cpin/hd_cpin.htm

http://ngmaindia.gov.in/ce_company-paintings.asp

RAM KUMAR:

Abstract Indian artist and Hindi author Ram Kumar was born in the small hill station of Shimla in 1924. He attended Delhi University where he studied economics. Minimally taking part in art exhibitions, he later on travelled to Paris by boat to work under artists Andre Lhote and Fernand Leger. He is famously categorized as a post-colonial Indian artist. He feels most comfortable using acrylic and oil paints. Human condition is the main evolving theme that Kumar expresses in his abstract artworks. One can say that living for most of his life in Delhi, India; he was surrounded by people, the busy Indian life, along with the influence of other such cities around the nation. Focusing on the main city of Varanasi, a cultural and historical pilgrimage site in India, Kumar was able to depict paintings with the unique and ethnic Indian touch to his works. Living in India, Kumar took what we normally see as everyday norms such as streets and buildings making people look at things from a different most aesthetic point of view. Similarly, after living in Paris, Vienna and London, his inspiration for abstraction began to spark as well. While most Indian artists were not as fortunate to travel outside of the country, Kumar brought forward national themed artworks with European styles of color and abstraction. More Hindu and Buddhist inspirations such as nirvana and the cycle of samsara also became strong influences in Kumar’s artworks. Now in his 90's, he is still living and is currently residing in the capital of New Delhi.

Banares 2 (Varanasi, India)

http://k10mehta.blogspot.in/2010/01/all-things-art-ram-kumar.html

http://www.saffronart.com/artist/artistprofile.aspx?artistid=164

http://www.theartstrust.com/artistprofile.aspx?artistid=46&name=Ram Kumar

Research Indian Art

Mughal miniatures

          A Mughal miniature is a particular style of South Asian School that was developed around 16-17^th century under the Mughal Empire. This style of painting initially came from Persian paintings, but overtime Mughal miniatures evolved and became more realistic than Persian paintings. Taking into consideration the ‘roots’ of Mughal miniatures, it can be concluded that Humayun, the second Mughal emperor, had a great influence on Mughal paintings; When he was in exile, in Persia, he was influenced by Shah Tahmasp. When Humayun returned to India he brought back two Persian artists with him. Before Mughal miniatures came about, miniatures known to have survived came from manuscripts from Mandu, an archaic city in Madhya Pradesh, India.  This school of painting burgeoned during the reign of Akbar, Shah Jahan and Jahangir. Zahiruddin Mohammad Babur was responsible for a great deal of Mughal Art. He set up this painting tradition during his reign at Kabul by constructing a Surat-Khana, a gallery with painted walls. A noted Mughal artist during that epoch was Govardhan. Most of the subject matter is on royal events and beauty. These paintings have a flat aerial perspective and are very detailed. Mughal miniature paintings also depicted events happening in the artist’s immediate surroundings.

 

http://www.redbag.in/mugal-queen-indian-miniature-painting.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mughal_painting

http://mughalminiatures.blogspot.in/

Chakraverty, Anjan. Indian Miniature Painting. Delhi: Lustre, 1996. Print.

 

Amrita Sher-gil (1913-1941)

          Amrita Sher-gil was half Hungarian and half Punjabi as she was the daughter of Sardar Umrao Singh Sher-gil and a Hungarian woman, Marie Antoinette. She was born in Budapest in 1913, and spent majority of the developing years of her life in Europe. She was born to be an artist as she was fond of painting since childhood. Marie realized Amrita’s potential and encouraged her to build on her painting talent. Marie took Amrita to Italy and Paris, the places that raved of art and gave Amrita an insight to the field. Amrita studied at the best art school in Paris, the Ecole des Beaux Arts.

          Amrita was from a sophisticated family and has a lot of support from her mother. But there were some political uprisings during her lifetime that impacted her career and family. When the communists overthrew the monarchy in March 1919, fascists “unleashed a reign of White Terror” which scared the Sher-gils and caused them, to flee to Marie Antoinette’s home outside Budapest.
          Since she was living in Paris, she had the advantage of visiting museums and galleries. Most of Amrita Sher-gil’s paintings illustrate starving men and women after she was deeply affected by the Indian population when she arrived to India for the first time in 1934. Even though born and brought up in Budapest, she responded more to India and Indian art with a blend of Western influence because of all the people she saw around her. She endeavored to blend her western techniques and Indian essence in her art work. She was influenced by European Modernism and brought her ideas to India. In her era, the 1920s, Art Deco and Surrealism were prevalent. She was at par with the masters of the Bengal Renaissance. Unfortunately, Amrita Sher-gil died at an early age of 28, in 1941.


         
        Amrita Sher-gil and her work                                              
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amrita_Sher-Gil
http://www.1920-30.com/art/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amrita_Sher-Gil

Delhi Research Assignment

AP Delhi Field Trip

Contextual Research Assignment

Assignment: Write at least one paragraph each on the following:

1)      specific painting school that you are assigned (older, more traditional work)

Give us the specifics of this particular school – the where, when, what, etc. – and also describe the historical, religious, social context that gave rise to this particular school of painting. What were its historical antecedents (what came before?) and who was supporting this painting style?  Include in your research a discussion of subject matter and visual form.

2)  Indian modern artist (generally from the 20^th century)

            You should be able to give us the basic biographical information: when and where they lived, where they worked, who influenced them, what style or movement they were associated with.  On top of this, I would like for you to give us an idea of the time in which they lived.  What was happening politically and socially at the time?  How did this artist respond to the time and place in which they were living?  What was their contribution to the art movements of the day?  Give us a context in which to place their work.

Blog Post Due Weds. 15 Feb. at 6pm

1. Includes at least one paragraph for each category
2. Includes one picture from each category
3. On time?
4. Quality of writing?
5. Quality of research?

Group 1: Painting Schools

Miniature Schools

Mughal

Rajput

Pahari

Deccani

Mysore Tradition

Company Paintings

Kalighat Painting

Bengal School

Group 2: Modern Indian Artists

Rabindranath Tagore Amrita Sher-Gil Jamini Roy Nandalal Bose BB Mukharjee FN Souza MF Houssain Nasreen Mohamedi SH Raza VS Galtonde Ram Kumar Krishnen Khanna PT Reddy