Posts Tagged ‘paintings’

PostHeaderIcon Indian Paintings : Glorious Heritage of India

Indian Painting reflects the glorious culture and heritage of India into incredible variety of colors and styles. Painting in India is a long practiced tradition. This creative form of art inspired generations of artists as their passion or profession.

Indian painting has adopted variety of techniques and styles in its journey to the world of arts. The new techniques and innovations have made it more enriched and versatile. Indian paintings are invaluable visual records of history. We can delve deeper into the periods of history through these indelible pieces of arts. Celebrate the true spirit of India with the potpourri of Indian paintings from the house of ethnic paintings.

Painting was practiced in India from the pre historic times. Various scenes of animal hunting and tribal wars were sculptured in the rocks and caves that came to be known as cave painting. The rock paintings of Bhimbekta are said to be the most archaic of the Indian paintings (5000B.C). The cave paintings of the Ajanta and Ellora are the modified versions of Bhimbekta. A combination of murals and frescos, the paintings spellbind with their aestheticism, meticulousness and workmanship.

The tenets of Indian painting and the various earlier forms of the art are to found in books like ‘Mudraskshaka’, ‘Vishnudharmottara’ and ‘Vinayapitaka’.

The Indian painting has several styles of paintings under its domain. Miniature Paintings are one of the most popular among them. Beautiful images from the epics and mythologies, idols of Hindu gods and goddesses and royal court scenes were depicted on pieces of glass, paper, marble, silk and leather in these paintings.

The paintings were highly appreciated for their rich colors and dazzling effects. The Rajput School of Miniature Paintings, The Deccan School of Miniature Paintings and The Mughal School of Miniature Paintings are sequels to original miniature paintings.

Thangka Paintings are form of Buddhist arts that were imbibed from the Buddhist missionaries of Tibet during the time of emperor Ashoka. The word ‘thangka’ is a Tibetan word meaning paintings on flat surfaces. Thangka paintings were laid out on silk and cotton materials. They could be folded in and rolled out according to the necessity.

Used as scrolls the various thanka paintings find Buddha and Bodhisattva in various meditative postures. ‘Buddha Mandala’, ‘Shakyamuni Buddha’and ‘Maitreye Buddha’ are some popular images that are figured in the paintings. The paintings inspire us to awaken our true spiritual self.

Madhubani Paintings are the exclusive paintings of the ‘Mithila’ region of Bihar. The rural women of ‘Mithila’ used to carve out their aspirations and imaginations in their mud built doors and walls. These came to be known as ‘Madhubani Paintings’. A charming folk art, the humble paintings now adorn the art galleries and cozy domestic interiors. Warli Paintings bring out the customs, beliefs and the lifestyle of the tribal people of Maharastra in bright colors and designs. ‘Pata Chitra’ is the traditional painting form of Orissa.

Deities of Hindu gods and goddesses and mythological figures are portrayed on large sheets of fabrics in this painting. Modern Indian Painting reflects India in the post-colonial era. The paintings can be perceived in the works of Jamini Roy, Mukbul Fida Hussain, S.K Bakre and S.H Raza.

Visit www.ethnicpaintings.com to get more information on Indian Painting

Priyanshu Shrivastava is the author of Ethnic Paintings This website provides comprehansive information on various forms of Paintings and Artists.

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PostHeaderIcon Making of thangka paintings

Most of the thangkas are painted on a canvas. Some are painted on paper or leather. Other are embroidered, appliquéd, woven and patchwork thangkas, but theSketching else forms are not discussed here. Technically making a painted thangka occurs in four stages.

Preparing the foundation:

The kind of thangka under discussion here, the canvas you buy, is made of a woven material: cotton, linen, and sometimes silk. A finely woven structure, made of a single piece of fabric, is best, because paint easily chips off of thicker to rougher fabrics when the thangka is rolled up. The painted canvas is rectangular in shape, taller than it is wide, ideally measuring on the average 30inches tall by 20 inches wide (75 by 50centimeters). The same 3:2 ratio f height to width can also be found in other formats: 12 by 8 inches (30by 20cm); 48 by 32 inches (120 by 80 cm); 120 by 80 inches (300 by 200 cm) for exceptionally large specimens. These proportions generally also apply to the huge thangkas – measuring up to 180 by 130 feet (55 by 40 meters) that are hung out side the wall of the monasteries during festivals. There are also elongated thangkas that are wider than they are tall, with a size ratio of 2:3.The edges of the canvas are folded over twice, rather than hemmed, to prevent them from unraveling. Then the canvas is fastened with thread to four laths that are firmly attached with twine to a wooden frame, and strung tightly, so that it looks like an upright trampoline.The front and the back of the cloth are swabbed with a sizing of anima; glue consisting of boiled bones and skins, often of a water buffalo. After this layer has been applied, it is polished with a smooth stone or shell. This produces a smooth, even layer on rough or uneven cloth that will function well for sketching and painting and will keep the paint from seeping into the cloth.
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PostHeaderIcon Chinese Oil Paintings and Realist Oil Painting

Chinese oil paintings and realist oil painting

Chinese oil paintings since the beginning of the fall, and “realism” and “realist painting” has a natural link, or from a certain sense, the beginning of the period of Chinese oil paintings is the “realist painting.” Chinese oil painting in the way of development, “realism” and “realist painting” has always been associated with it.

Chinese oil paintings and the history of the development of China’s social and cultural development, changes in the history closely linked, it is accompanied by a knowledge of Western and other natural and cultural knowledge to enter China. The starting point for the development of Chinese oil paintings, is well documented from the Ming Dynasty in Ningbo, Zhejiang Jiajingnianjian the Portuguese in the establishment of the Hong Kong Trade Shuangyu base, the painting will bring this art form in China. Later in the Wanlinianjian (European Renaissance painting at this time is an important period in the history of the development), due to religious reasons, the Italian missionary Matteo Ricci to a painting of God, Our Lady of the paintings to China. According to records, the 1610 Tour Wen-hui’s “portrait of Matteo Ricci” has realistic approach, clearly the relationship between brightness, which can be deduced, You Wenhui of China earlier study and practice of European oil paintings. To the Qing Dynasty, many Western missionaries for the court is satisfied that, with the Qing Emperor Kangxi in Beijing between the missionaries and Gongtinghuashi Lang Shining as the representative, he worked in China, the life of 51, after Emperor Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong three dynasties . He used the Western oil painting concepts to the performance of the Chinese characters “Xiangfeirongzhuang map”, opened a real painting with Chinese content of the precedent. Some scholars believe that this also is China’s realist painting “The first map.” The development of early Chinese oil paintings are generally three ways, first missionary to preach the culture, and second, followed by the court to accommodate the culture of painting, and the third is in the cultural and economic exchanges in the “civil painting.” Chinese oil paintings start from the beginning with “realism” style. Some scholars from the Guangdong exported start painting on that Guangdong is the birthplace of Chinese oil paintings, where you can find Chinese realist painting at the initial start of the cultural and artistic works. Some scholars from the Shanghai Museum soil Hill Bay Exploration focus on painting, oil painting that China’s modern master Xu Yong-ching, Ding stunning, ZHOU Xiang, Zhang Hui charge, Zhang Yuguang, such as Ren Bonian, “have received here in Western art education . Territories Bay Hill painting in the Museum, is the court in the northern West painting interrupted,”the Guangzhou coastal export oil painting after painting”in the re-rise of China and Turkey. Although the time across a century, but the history of Shanghai has once again chosen to Western painting East wind of a historic turn for the better, but also laid the future Shanghai will become the basis of a major Chinese oil paintings. “Soil Bay Hill Museum paintings produced sculptures, practice painting, oil painting and home-made paints, specialized manual sketching, realistic atmosphere rich, To become “China’s cradle of Western painting.” Chinese oil painting in the process of development, Transocean Xunmeng, gains Western Modernist painting of the first practice, also gains the Lingqi realist painting, mechanical Moreover, the two can not be separated. “Westernization Movement” to promote Chinese painting in the spread of emerging art education has driven the rise of realism style. The rise of Western painting groups also promote the development of China’s realist painting. Founded in Shanghai in 1915′s “Oriental Art” in the form of groups to promote the spread of Western painting, to promote a scientific attitude to artistic creation, to stand as the main means of painting, drawing Dan Gaoxiang take into account indoor and outdoor paint, and actively promote outdoor Painting, further carry forward the style of realism. After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, Chinese oil paintings into a tortuous and difficult period of development. This “difficult” and the people’s suffering, linked to national survival. Is the most significant artists, in particular, a number of important artists in this period of adversity, in the baptism of war, inspired by passion, real life experience to the suffering and national disaster, in-depth, experience in the rear shoulder Anti-Japanese National Salvation of the great historical mission, this generation of artists in the blood flow to the country and the nation’s destiny, art and life of passion, and the development of Chinese oil paintings were integrated into the subjects of great practical and enhanced the art of profound practical significance.
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PostHeaderIcon The Various Styles of Indian Paintings

The styles and varieties in paintings from India are as diverse as the country itself. Painting as an art form has flourished in India from pre-historic times as evident from the rock paintings – some of them are older than 5500 BC. Indian Paintings can be broadly classified as the murals & miniatures. Murals are large works executed on the walls of solid structures like caves, temples and walls of palaces. Classic examples are the paintings in Ajantha & Kailasantaha temple while miniature paintings are those executed on a very small scale on perishable material such as paper and cloth etc.

Miniature Painting

The style of miniature painting is believed to be developed in western India during the 16th to 18th century. Most of the miniature paintings were part of manuscripts written at that time to illustrate and explain the subjects of the manuscripts. Prime examples are the Rajasthani & Mughal miniatures. Prime examples are some Jain manusripts, Rajasthani & Mughal miniatures. Though this style had been perfected by artisans under the various rules, not many remain today.

Madhubani Painting

The origins of Madhubani painting are shrouded in antiquity and interesting to know that many believe that this style of painting originated at the time of the Ramayana, when King Janak commissioned artists to do paintings at the time of marriage of his daughter, Sita, with Sri Rama who is considered to be an incarnation of the Hindu God Lord Vishnu. Madhubani painting is a style of uttradi mutt painting, mostly practiced in the Mithila region of Bihar, India.

Rajasthani Painting

Originated in Rajasthan state of India, Rajasthani Painting flourished during the 18th century in the royal courts of Rajputana, India. Each Rajput kingdom evolved a distinct style, but the basic feel remained the same. Several events of epics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, Krishna’s life, beautiful landscapes, and humans attracted the painters of this style as these became themes of their paintings. It is said that the preparation of desired colours was a lengthy process, sometimes taking weeks. The colours were extracted from minerals, plants, conch shells, and were even derived by processing precious stones, gold and silver.

Mughal Painting

Mughal paintings were a unique blend of Indian, Persian and Islamic styles. In order to keep visual record of major events during their rule, Mughal Emprerors used to take artists along on military or hunting expeditions, who would depict their royal deeds in form of art.

Mysore Painting
Mysore painting, an important form of classical South Indian painting, originated in the town of Mysore in Karnataka. Known for their elegance, muted colours, and attention to detail, the themes for most of these paintings are Hindu Gods and Goddesses and scenes from Hindu mythology. In modern times, these paintings are exchanged as souvenir during festive occasions in South India.

Tanjore Painting

Native to the town of Tanjore in Tamil Nadu, India, Tanjore painting is an important form of classical South Indian painting. The art form dates back to the early 9th century, a period dominated by the Chola rulers, who encouraged art and literature. The themes of these paintings are mostly Hindu gods and goddesses, and saints as well. Episodes from Hindu tradition and mythology are drawn upon as elaboration to the chief figure(s) placed in the central section of the picture. After the painting is completed, decoration of the jewellery and the apparels in the image is done with semi-precious stones, laces or threads. On top of this, the gold foils are pasted. As a final touch, dyes are used to add colors to the figures in the paintings.

The Bengal School of Art

The Bengal School of Art was an influential style of art that flourished in India during the British Raj in the early 20th century. Though associated with Indian nationalism, the style was also promoted and supported by many British art administrators. The Bengal school arose as an avant garde and nationalist movement reacting against the academic art styles previously promoted in India, both by Indian artists such as Ravi Varma and in British art schools.

Modern Indian Painting

During the colonial era, some artists in India developed a style that used Western ideas of composition, perspective and realism to illustrate Indian themes while others like Jamini Roy, consciously drew inspiration from folk art. By the time of Independence in 1947, many schools of art in India started providing access to modern techniques and ideas. Art Galleries were established to showcase the work of these artists. Modern Indian art typically shows the influence of Western styles, but is often inspired by Indian themes and images.

Source: http://www.mysticstrokes.com

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