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