Painting - I

Culture of India Paintings and sculpture

Painting - I

Introduction

History of Indian Painting can be traced back to the primitive Rock paintings of Bhimbetka, (5500 B.C.), Hoshangabad, Mirzapur, Raigarh and Panchmarhi. They show similarity with the Stone Age paintings of Matopos (Zimbabwe) Altamira (Spain) and Lascaux (France).

After them there was era of painted pottery of Indus Valley Civilization.

Around 1st century BC the Sadanga or Six Limbs of Indian Painting, were evolved, a series of canons laying down the main principles of the art. Vatsyayana, who lived during the third century A.D., enumerates these in his Kamasutra.

Indian Paintings can be broadly classified as murals and miniatures.

Murals are large works executed on the walls of solid structures, as in the Ajanta Caves and the Kailashnath temple. Miniature paintings are executed on a very small scale for books or albums on perishable material such as paper and cloth. The Palas of Bengal were the pioneers of miniature painting in India.

The real contribution development of Indian painting took place under the Guptas. Ajanta frescoes are the best example of Gupta and post Gupta period paintings. Boddhisattva Avalokiteshwara Padmapani in Cave No. I (Ajanta) is still the best piece of Ancient Indian paintings.

The paintings at Ajanta are not true frescoes as they are painted with the aid of a binding agent, whereas in fresco the paintings are executed while the lime wash is still wet which, thereby acts as an intrinsic binding agent.

The Jaina miniature of Gujarat and that of Sultanate of early medieval India show a decline in this art. But under Mughals a number of steps were taken to improve the painting styles, especially after coming of Abdul Samad and Mir Syed Ali. In fact it was under Akbar that the Portuguese introduced the idea of foreshortening. (Foreshortening is a technique used in perspective to create the illusion of an object receding strongly into the distance or background.)

Akbar organized painting by establishing a ‘Karkhana’ where artists from various parts of the country came and collectively worked on producing paintings. Thus the Indian painting witnessed cultural synthesis of Indo-lslam. The Mughal paintings show the Buddhist and Mongoloid and Persian influences as well.

It was under Jahangir that ‘Portrait’ paintings developed to the fullest. Birds and animals were painted on a large scale under him. Darah Shikoh even had an album of paintings. Aurangzeb considered it anti-lslamic therefore there was a decline in this art. But it survived in the hill areas of Himachal and pockets of Rajasthan. The modern paintings under British rule show the influence of European style. E.B. Havell wanted India to work out its own artistic salvation and encouraged Indian themes and it was due to his efforts and Abhanindra Nath Tagore that a renaissance of Indian paintings took place.

Pre historic paintings

The earliest paintings in India can be seen in the caves of Bihmbetka, Mirzapur, Hoshangabad, Raigarh, Raichur and Panchmarhi. They have bold lines and are in vivid ochre red and yellow earth colors or soot black. They are scratched on stone. This shows that they knew how to make colors and brushes. Our prehistoric paintings are similar to those found in Lascaux in France, Altamira in Spain, Matopos in Zimbabwe.

Bhimbetka Paintings

It has South Asian richest collection of Prehistoric Painting. The paintings belong to 3 periods.

The upper Paleolithic paintings, usually in white, dark red and green lines depicting large animals like bison, rhinoceros and tiger.

The Mesolithic figures and animals, usually in Red, are smaller but they lose their proportion and naturalism. Hunting is a common theme. ‘Stick-men’ are shown grazing, riding and hunting animals or dancing in groups.

Green and Yellow colors were used in later period of which battle scenes with men riding elephants and horses with spears,bows and arrow,are seen. Some of the shelters have images of Shiva and Ganesha, flowers and trees, peacock, leapord, deer, old men and dancers.

Gupta age- paintings (c. 350-650)

Most famous paintings of this age are found at these places

Ajanta

Bagh

Sittannavasal

Vatsyana’s Kamasutra shows the skills involved in painting and the types of brushes used by the painters during the Gupta age.

Ajanta paintings

(100 km from the city of Aurangabad). They are ‘Fresco’ or ‘Stucco Succo’ wall paintings. These Murals are done in Tempera style. The surface where the painting was to be done was made rough by some tool. A plaster consisting of stone power, cowdung and rice straw was used to cover the rough surface. This was covered by a thin coat of lime paste. Lines of the required painting were drawn in red or ochre color on the surface while it was wet. Then colors made of local pigments made from minerals and plants were applied to the same and lastly finishing was done in black or brown outlines.

Emotional Expression- depicted by the paintings on Buddha’s life and Boddhisatva.

Descriptive- depicted by the paintings of Jataka stories.

Ornamental- depicted by the paintings of Garuda, Yaksha, Gandharva, Apsaras, animals, birds and flowers.

Most of the paintings seen in the Ajanta Caves, date back to the period of the Mahayana sect of Buddhism. The themes of most of these paintings revolve around the life and teachings of Lord Buddha. This includes the Jataka stories related to the various lives and incarnations of Buddha.

Bagh paintings

There are 9 Caves at Bagh (near Gwalior, M.P.) on the banks of river Bagh (Narmada). They have been excavated on the rock face of a lofty hill. The wall paintings of these caves date back to period between 5th and 7th century.

The 4th Cave - Rangmahal has got the maximum number of paintings. The paintings of this place are on the same line of Ajanta. The subject matter and characteristics are more or less same as that of Ajanta.

Sittanavasa paintings

This place is situated at Puddukota in Tanjore.These caves were built by Mahendra Verman and his son Narsimha Varman.

These caves have Jaina paintings.The paintings have resemblance of Bagh and Ajanta.

The paintings depict-

Animals, birds, flowers (Lotus dominate).

Ghandharva and Ardha Narishwara.

Men and Women.

Ellora

Ellora caves are nestled amidst the Chamadari Hills, lying approximately 18 miles to the northeast of Aurangabad city. Paintings can be found in five caves. However, all of them are today preserved only in the Kailasa temple. The rock paintings of Ellora were painted in two different series.

Characteristics-

There are two types of paintings here,
One resembling Ajanta. Other showing deterioration in standard or Apabhramsha influence. From here the Apabhramasa School started.

Pala school (9th - 12th century)

The Palas of Bengal and Bihar patronized this school. The main patrons being Raja Dharma Pala and Deva Pala. The main artists of this school were Dhimman and Vitapala.

Chief characteristics of this school -

There are mostly manuscript paintings on Talapatra (Palm Leaves).
Most of these paintings are religious and related to Lord Buddha and Vajrayana Buddhism.
The black finishing lines are sinuous.
Heads are flat.
Color scheme uses Red, Blue, Pink, Indigo and Grey.
In name of nature only banana and coconut trees are painted.
Mostly lonely human figure are found in this school.
They are simple in composition and have feeling of devotion.