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Kalighat Paintings
Cultural Calendar for February 2007
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The Kalighat school of painting is perhaps the first school of painting
in India that is truly modern as well as popular. With their bold
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simplifications, strong lines,vibrant colours and visual rhythm, these
February 2
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Violin recitle by Ms. E. M. Indrani
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watercolour drawings, usually called pats, have a surprising affinity
Bharatha Natyam Recital by Prakruthi Kolay
to modern art. Yet their subjects and intentions are very specific to
from India
Venue & Time: ICC 6.00 p.m.
their time and place, far removed from the world of today. Part of the
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Edirisooriya, Lecturer - University of Visual
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and Performing Arts
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Venue & Time: ICC 6.00 p.m.
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mystery of their distinctiveness lies perhaps in the fact that they are a
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February 13
fusion produced by a meeting of the East and the West, of ideas and
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Film: Kabuliwala (with English subtitles)
techniques British as well as Bengali, modern as well as traditional.
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Language: Hindi
Directed by: Hemen Gupta
They are the work of professional Bengali artists called patuas who
Venue & Time: ICC 5.30 p.m. Duration : 3 hrs
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Film: Arth (with English subtitles)
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Language: Hindi
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Directed by: Mahesh Bhatt
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painted thousands of such pats in their own style and sold them for
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Venue & Time: ICC 5.30 p.m. Duration : 3 hrs
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two or four pice each (one pice=1 penny approximately)at temples,
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markets and fairs in and around Calcutta and, most famously, at the gates of the bustling temple
February 28
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Film: Mitr (with English subtitles)
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at Kalighat in the southern part of the city. This popular cultural form thrived all through the 19
Language: Hindi
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century and died out during early decades of the 20 century.
Directed by: Revathy
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Hindustani Vocal Recital
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by Ms. Chamila Edwards
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Venue & Time: ICC 6.00 p.m.
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Venue & Time: ICC 5.30 p.m. Duration : 3 hrs
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After the British East India Company gained control over Eastern India, Calcutta became the
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new political heart of India, and the center of an arc of power that soon swept from Aden to
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Hong Kong and it was this city through which profound cultural influences entered India from
the West, principally Britain. The English had carried their penchant for watercolours to India,
and engaged themselves in training local artists in drawing and watercolours of their own style,
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(Admission to all programmes is free on first come first served basis)
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chiefly to record landscapes, monuments and natural history. The first paper mill was started as
early as in 1809, and the ready availability of factory-made watercolours and cheap paper made
market which was potentially huge. Price and portability were
the biggest difference to the emergence of the Kalighat style.
constraints. So single frames of colour drawings of religious icons,
priced within an anna each, was the right solution.
For centuries there had existed in the rural districts outside Calcutta, professional painters
Designs were kept simple to be repeated as often as required
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(patuas) whose occupation was to paint scrolls and visit markets and fairs to display them,
reciting their related narratives. Their medium is modern mill-made paper but their colours are
according to the popularity of a picture. The detailed
still traditional organic and vegetable dyes and the use gum Arabic as a binder.
draughtsmanship of the scroll painters was abandoned. A strong
naturalism was evident in the work. Figures were outlined in pencil
During the early 19th century, enterprising generations of the patuas saw Calcutta as the
before the base colour was swiftly applied in broad wet strokes.
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Colours were vivid. A darker hue was added to obtained the
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biggest market place of them all. There are families of artists living in the Kalighat area today,
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sculptural volume before the base coat was dry, to avoid tide marks.
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who are descended from the last of the watercolorists. They continue to intermarry with
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Medinipur patuas, and make life-size straw and unbaked clay images of divinities for the rituals
Faces were mostly drawn in three-quarter profile. Eyes nose mouth
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beard/moustache distinguishing marks were added according to
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of Hindu Calcutta. The 1806 engraving of a patua by Solvyns clearly shows their multiple
formula. This simplification resulted in the total number of figures
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means of livelihood-painting pats, moulding images and making earthenware pots. One
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striking result of this facility of modeling clay in the 'round' was the ease with which volume
being severely reduced. Silver ornamentation, a major feature of the better and early examples,
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was added finally, using colloidal tin with a precise expertise and detailed brushwork, that
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was represented in Kalighat drawings. This is rare in Indian art. The Kalighat artists clearly
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belies the notion that these paintings were hurriedly produced.
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translated their sculptural sensibility to their drawings. However, the need to represent volume
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on two-dimensional surfaces was also certainly in response to Western examples.
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There are a variety of themes in the Kalighat repertoire. The repertoire was essentially a set of
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In Calcutta, the patuas adopted the new format of single rectangular panels. They adapted
religious icons. However, the flow of life in the surrounding world found its place, to form the
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border of the religious center. Calcutta and its mores were in the themselves a vast source: the
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stylistic features like the plain background left empty. (Space in traditional Indian painting is
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Englishment, the newly modish Calcuttans, the soldiers, the traders, the luxurious lives of
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never empty). This focusing on the main figures while excluding the background was probably
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courtesans around Kalighat, Calcutta's resident rich-freed from the conservative constraints of
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influenced by contemporary English portrait prints. Their style evolved in response to the
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Contd.
Contd.
P a s t E v e n t s
LIBRARY
Kalighat Paintings.. Contd.
Recent Library Accessions
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13 December
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15 December
rural life, were all fascinating subjects. There was also news, gathered and disseminated by new
Discovery of Sanskrit Treasures : Grammar
Discovery of Sanskrit Treasures: Classical
“Sounds of Christmas”by Soul Sounds ,
“Taal Ki Awaz” An evening of Kathak
Western means, but finally grist for the narrative mill. There were stories to tell of the Rani who
and Linguistics Vol.1
Sanskrit Literature Vol.3
directed by Soundarie David
dance, Tabla & Vocal music Recital by
died fighting for her land in a soldiers uniform, the yogi who wrestled tigers, tha abbot caught in
Shastri, S.V.
Shastri, S.V.
Ms. Mohksha Samarasooriya & her
adultery…
New Delhi : Yash Publications,2006,296p.
New Delhi : Yash Publications,2006,237p.
The award
students along with Mr. Ranga Perera
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w i n n i n g
What was remarkable in the midst of all this modernity was the continuity of anonymous themes
891.2SHA
891.2SHA
c h o i r
that traced their origin to classical temple architecture. The musician couple seated on chairs, was
p r e s e n t e d
Discovery of Sanskrit Treasures: Epics and
Discovery of Sanskrit Treasures: Modern
descended from the Gandharva musicians who played in paradise on innumerable temple friezes.
well known
Puranas Vol.2
Sanskrit Literature Vol.4
The beautiful woman, adjusting the rose in her hair, the luxurious women in silks, petting
C h r i s t m a s
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Shastri, S.V.
Shastri, S.V.
peacocks, smacked of nayikas or heroines of an urban culture that went back to 4 century Gupta
carols and
New Delhi : Yash Publications,2006,138p.
New Delhi : Yash Publications,2006,216p.
classicism.
songs, together with a sing-a-long for audience
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participation. The programme commenced
The Ghunghroos (ankle bells) and the rhythm
891.2SHA
891.2SHA
with the speech by the Deputy High
The patuas painted stories from the great epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, of the Hindu
of tabla kept the audience spellbound at the
Commissioner Shri A.Manickam. The concert
performance
gods like Siva, Master of the Universe. In Bengal, Siva is recognised as the forgetful god, wildly
was aimed to spread the joy of Christmas, with
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dressed, easy to anger and easier to placate, everyone's son-in-law and popular with the patuas.
the sound of unique harmonies, together with
M o k s h a
Films in February
Vishnu who maintains the universe, ending it when it has lost all virtue or dharma, whose cult
the warmth of lovely voices. Indian Cultural
Samarasooriy
expresses itself through avatars (incarnations), was equally well represented. But above all, the
Centre has been regularly celebrating important
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patuas painted Shakti (the Goddess personifying Power) who protects living beings in various
festivals of India and this show too was a part of
s t u d e n t s
Kabuliwala (with English subtitles)
personas – as the warrior goddess Durga who returns, poignantly like all married daughters, to
it.
a l o n g w i t h
Children known him as Kabuliwala. But they were afraid of him; he had such an
every Bengali-Hindu home for a few brief days in autumn, as Kali who frees man from fear.
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imposing figure! Like all good men, however, Kabuliwala was very fond of
Perera . Among the dance items performed was
children. Kabuliwala had come to Calcutta to earn his living, leaving behind his
It is important to note the presence of strong images from Islam and Christianity in the Kalighat
a captivating classical item performed for raag
little daughter. Her memory haunted him all the time. And he came across little Mini
repertoire. The painters sought to capture all slices of the truly cosmopolitan market available to
“Dhun”. Ms. Moksha Samarasooriya sang few
– the city child in whom he saw the image of his little daughter. Fate, however,
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19 December
classical ragas and Bhajans and Mr. Ranga
intervened and an unfortunate incident soon separated the two. They met again.
Perera demonstrated various styles in playing
Tagore's story Kabuliwala is s so well known that perhaps you have read it. Here is a
“The Indian Experience” – A cookery
The Kalighat paintings appeared in the opening decade of the 19the century and by the 1930s, they
Tabla.
film based on that great classic. A brilliant adaptation by the legendary Bimal Roy!
demonstration of Indian dishes by Chef
had almost entirely disappeared. The need to produce more pieces with a smaller expenditure of
Language:Hindi
Pawan Singh Rana of Taj Samudra
Directed by: Hemen Gupta
time and materials in the face of competition from imported and local woodcuts., lithographs and
Hotel
prints, made by artists trained in Western styles, was always a battle that the Kalighat style had to
Mitr (with English subtitles)
fight. It fought with many weapons-by even going into simplifications and creating black and
An enthusiastic
Shot primarily by an all women crew, 'Mitr - My friend' is the directorial debut of the
white drawings-but eventually lost.
audience gathered
actress Revathy Menon. The story is about an Indian family settled in California for
at the Centre to
a past 18 years and brings out the dearth of emotional satisfaction they face in a
witness the expert
The vivid lines and mature brush techniques, the minute finish, deft precision, rhythmical
materialistic world. The sensitivity of the movie lies in the identity of a strange Mitr
Chef Pawan Singh
arrangement of limbs, shading to give a strong effect of roundness and an almost tubular simplicity
(Friend)
Rana of the Hotel
make this style still extremely attractive. The softly modeled, round faces with narrow noses,
Taj Samudra turn
widely open eyes under high eyebrow arches and delicately outlined lips are richly sensuous.
out mouth
Language: Hindi
watering Indian
Directed by: Revathy
But by the 1930s these pictures had entirely vanished and been replaced by oleographs. 'The artist
cuisine. Some of the items prepared were
Arth(with English subtitles)
craftsmen are nearly all dead, and their children have taken up other business… The old art is gone
'Kadai chicken', 'Shahi tukuda' and 'Haryali
The film Arth explores the theme of a married man involved in a relationship outside
forever-the pictures are now finding their last asylum in museums and art collections as things of
kebab'.
his marriage. What sets Arth apart is the layered, complex characterization of the
beauty which we cannot let die.”
three principal characters, the husband, the wife and the other woman. Besides three
splendid performances by Shabana, Smita and Kulbhushan, Kharbanda, the film is lit
Source: Aditi Nath Sarkar & Christine Mackay, Published in association with National Museums
by Rajkirans Sunny presence and a flint - sparking cameo by Kiran Virala.
and galleries of Wales
Language: Hindi
Directed by: Mahesh Bhatt
