Modern Indian painting

The modern Indian art movement in

The merchants of the East India Company also provided a large market for native art. A distinct genre developed of watercolour painting on paper and mica in the later half of the 18th century depicting scenes of everyday life, regalia of princely courts, and native festivities and rituals. Referred to as the "Company style" or "Patna style", it flourished at first in Murshidabad and spread to other cities of British suzerainty. The style is considered by authorities to be "of hybrid style and undistinguished quality".^[3]

Post-1857,

The enlightened eighteenth-century attitude shown by an earlier generation of British towards Indian history, monuments, literature, culture and art took a turn away in the mid-nineteenth century.[5] Previous manifestations of Indian art were brushed away as being "dead" and the stuff of museums; "from the official British perspective, India had no living art".^[6] To propagate Western values in art education and the colonial agenda, the British established art schools in Calcutta and Madras in 1854 and in Bombay in 1857.^[2]

Raja Ravi Varma

Raja Ravi Varma considered his work as "establishing a new civilisational identity within the terms of 19th Century India".[2]^: 147 He aimed to form an Indian canton of art in the manner of those of the classic Greek and Roman civilisations.^[2] Varma's art came to play an important role in the development of the Indian national consciousness. Varma purchased a printing press which churned out oleograph copies of his paintings which graced the middle-class homes of India, many decades after he died.^[2] Considered a genius in his heyday, within a few years of his passing, Varma's paintings came under severe strictures for mimicking Western art.^{[citation needed]}

Raja Ravi Varma died in 1906 at the age of 58. He is considered among the greatest painters in the history of Indian art.

The Bengal School

During the colonial era, Western influences had started to make an impact on Indian art. Some artists developed a style that used Western ideas of composition, perspective and realism to illustrate Indian themes,

Abanindranath painted a number of works influenced by Mughal art, a style that he and Havel believed to be expressive of India's distinct spiritual qualities, as opposed to the "materialism" of the West. His best-known painting, Bharat Mata (Mother India), depicted a young woman, portrayed with four arms in the manner of Hindu deities, holding objects symbolic of India's national aspirations. The other prominent figures of the

During the opening years of the 20th century, Abanindranath developed links with Japanese cultural figures such as the art historian Okakura Kakuzō and the painter Yokoyama Taikan as part of a globalised Modernist initiative with pan-Asian tendencies.^[12][13]

Those associated with this Indo-Far Eastern model included

Santiniketan

The mantle of the Bengal School was taken up when Rabindranath Tagore established the visionary university of

The idea of

Contextual Modernism in the recent past has found its usage in other related fields of studies, specially in Architecture.^[17]

Post-independence

By the time of Independence in 1947, several schools of art in India provided access to modern techniques and ideas. Galleries were established to showcase these artists. Modern Indian art typically shows the influence of Western styles, but is often inspired by Indian themes and images. Major artists are beginning to gain international recognition, initially among the Indian diaspora, but also among non-Indian audiences.

The

Other famous painters like

Indian Art got a boost with the economic liberalization of the country since early 1990s. Artists from various fields now started bringing in varied styles of work. Post liberalization Indian art works not only within the confines of academic traditions but also outside it. Artists have introduced new concepts which have hitherto not been seen in Indian art. Devajyoti Ray has introduced a new genre of art called Pseudorealism. Pseudorealist Art is an original art style that has been developed entirely on the Indian soil. Pseudorealism takes into account the Indian concept of abstraction and uses it to transform regular scenes of Indian life into fantastic images.

In post-liberalization India, many artists have established themselves in the international art market like the

Art scholars such as Vaibhav S. Adhav,

Late 21st Century Painters (2013-2019)

2013

In the 21st century, Modern Indian paintings consisted of self reflection and of emerging issues in the country.^[24]

One such artist that has had great influence is Bhupen Khakhar, and his style included, “producing colorful works with much humor, driven by strong narratives capturing a mixture of daily middle-class life and erotic fantasy." In 2013, an exhibit named “Touched by Bhupen” displayed artworks from artists including: Subodh Gupta, Atul Dodiya, Ratheesh T, Nataraj Sharma, and Jogen Chowdhury, depicting Bhupen’s impact on their art.^[25]

Also in 2013, an Indian Art Fair took place in which some Indian artists exhibited their art along with artists from all over the world. Some of the Indian artists who were involved included: SH Raza, Nilofer Suleman, Viveek Sharma, and Smriti Dixit. Each artist has its own style, Raza’s paintings contain Hindu thinking, and Suleman’s paintings are very modern and incorporate Indian graphic styles. Sharma’s paintings embody political statements, and Dixit’s paintings contain notions of reuse and rebirth.^[26]

2016

K. G. Subramanyan was known for his mixing of traditions. Specifically speaking, he brought together traditional contemporary Indian art with pop culture and traditional Indian folk art with modern, urban trends. By attending Santiniketan art school the founder of the school, Rabindranath Tagore wanted to impose onto his pupils the idea of asserting Indian traditions with handicrafts. Subramanyan was able to take those teachings from Tagore and bring them to the future generation of artists whilst he himself was a teacher at Maharaja Sayajiaro University in Baroda.^[27]

2017-2019

Siddharth (Sid) Katragadda is an Indian-American artist who received his diploma in Painting Composition from the City College, San Diego. He has been painting since he was around five, but started exhibiting and selling his art only in 2008. From 2008 to 2015, he was very prolific, selling nearly 100 of his Abstract “Dark Indian Women” series paintings to private collectors across the world. In 2010, his work was acquired by Mani Ratnam. As an artist, he believes that an artist's primary objective should be to capture a culture – and that a culture can be best understood through its women. He aims to develop his own styles of painting that progress art in new directions. His experiments are seen in all his paintings. In 2022, he painted a series of 12 Western paintings in what he calls Holeism style, based on various humanitarian issues. He also returned to his abstract Indian women, creating the first of his Timism style paintings. His Soulism style was published in TaintTaintTaint Magazine ^[28]

Pradip Sengupta was named an emerging artist in 2017. He received his degree from Visva Bharati University in Santiniketan.^[29] His paintings combine a large variety of colors, mixed with different techniques. All of his paintings capture the change that he has gone through during his life; they represent the feelings that he has inside, yet his artwork seems to envision some sort of fantasy, even including some western figures like Superman.^[30]

Sarang Singla was also recognized as an upcoming artist in 2017. Her style is a mix between contemporary art and traditional, Indian culture. She mixes textures and techniques to depict her inspirations that she gathers from what is happening in the world around her.^[29]

Also among those listed as an emerging artist in 2017, Siddharth S. Shingade expresses his feeling though an interesting integration of detailed faces. He elongates the creatures in some and tries to tell stories about historical events.^[29] Where he calls home is in Marathwada, India. He often uses color palettes that represents this. There is a wide variety of yellow's that imitate the warm climate of Marathwada. The mood of his artwork tends to be more somber, really capturing the oppression that the people in his homeland faced.^[31]

An upcoming artistic 2018, Bakula Nayak, uses mixed media painting to really express happiness. She tends to create work that is very light hearted and comical. Mostly influenced my Western art and imagination; she creates animal characters to participate in human activities. This creates a story-like environment.^[32]

Dinkar Jadhav, also an upcoming artist in 2018, has a passion for love, passion, and freedom. He depicts this through his frequent paintings of bulls and horses. Creativity is key and he shows this incorporating different geometric shapes, color blocking, and sharp angles into his paintings. He is using modern art to depict some traditional values.^[32]

In 2018, Roy K. John's art became some of the most popular of that year. He uses very traditional techniques, blended with contemporary styles to creates his interpretation of Hindu deities and traditional Indian iconography. He uses vibrant colors to show his love for nature and stays true to his roots by recreating some of the most traditional Indian art ^[32]

The year of 2019, Buddhadev Mukherjee from Kolkata, India, started to be recognized for his unusual interest in separating human form from all other things. He is known to incorporate the main human figure into something with animal qualities. He mixes two unlike things to create one fluid painting.^[33]

References