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"Last Week! Kalighat Paintings of Calcutta"
1999-06-10 until 1999-08-30
Los Angeles County Museum
Los Angeles, CA, USA United States of America

Calcutta in the nineteenth century was a dynamic, cosmopolitan city. It was not only the political capital of British India, but also the leading intellectual and cultural center of India. Several disparate art styles were practiced simultaneously in Calcutta during this period, including Western oil paintings, graphics, watercolors, and photography by British and Continental artists, Western-style works by classically trained Indian artists, traditional Hindu and Islamic works of art, and the dramatic watercolor paintings sold in the bazaars near the revered temple of the goddess Kali in the Kalighat area of south Calcutta. Of all the art forms current in Calcutta, Kalighat painting was the most innovative and had the strongest influence on later generations of South Asian artists.

The Art of Nineteenth-Century Calcutta

In 1773 Calcutta was made the capital of British India. Not only did entrepreneurs and adventurers flock to Calcutta, but also architects and professional artists seeking patronage, such as William Devis (1762-1822). Exhibitions of oil paintings by visiting European artists and the plenitude of Western prints and drawings available for sale in the bazaars introduced a new artistic world to the Indian artists, merchants, and affluent landowners who were drawn to Calcutta.

With the breakdown of traditional patronage opportunities caused by the decline of the Mughal empire, some Indian court artists moved to Calcutta, where they were often reduced by economic necessity to sell their works in the bazaars alongside lesser trained artists. Possessed of a high degree of skill, they were able to adapt their traditional Mughal style to the desire of British and European patrons for works displaying naturalistic drawing, shading, and perspective.

A subsection of the exhibition entitled Myriad Visions examines the artistic interaction between the Kalighat painters and other artists and traditions. The challenge South Asian artists of all periods have faced is how to express artistic genius while portraying traditional subjects bound by iconographic prescription and regional style. Kalighat artists looked for inspiration not only to earlier existing works within their rich Bengali cultural heritage and contemporary art forms being practiced elsewhere in Calcutta, but to works made in other media and regions as well. Far from slavishly imitating the earlier or foreign forms, however, Kalighat artists created dynamic new interpretations of religious subjects that, nevertheless, remained within the broad confines of the heterogeneous Kalighat visual canon. Myriad Visions contrasts a number of cross-cultural depictions of deities to suggest the significant degree of artistic exchange or borrowing that transpired between the Kalighat painters and the Calcutta art world.>Stylistically, Kalighat painting primarily developed out of the Bengali tradition of narrative scroll painting, which was condensed and stripped of nonessentials to produce images quickly, and thereby better exploit the burgeoning market opportunities in the Calcutta bazaars. At first, images of Hindu deities and myths were the leading subjects, but by the middle of the nineteenth century the Kalighat artists began to be concerned with portraying the world around them. Contemporary newsworthy figures and genre images were depicted, and social issues were commented upon in satirical and metaphorical images, much in the same fashion as the popular literature of the age.

Images from a Changing World: Kalighat Paintings of Calcutta presents the rich milieu of Kalighat painting in three thematic sections: The Art of Nineteenth-Century Calcutta discusses the various contemporary arts relevant to the formation of Kalighat painting. The World of Kalighat Painting provides a topical overview of the wide range of Kalighat subject matter organized into religious, historical, genre, and social commentary images. The Kalighat Legacy reveals the substantial effect Kalighat painting had on later South Asian artists in terms of theme, style, and freedom from convention.

The Art of Nineteenth-Century Calcutta In 1773 Calcutta was made the capital of British India. Not only did entrepreneurs and adventurers flock to Calcutta, but also architects and professional artists seeking patronage, such as William Devis (1762-1822). Exhibitions of oil paintings by visiting European artists and the plenitude of Western prints and drawings available for sale in the bazaars introduced a new artistic world to the Indian artists, merchants, and affluent landowners who were drawn to Calcutta.

With the breakdown of traditional patronage opportunities caused by the decline of the Mughal empire, some Indian court artists moved to Calcutta, where they were often reduced by economic necessity to sell their works in the bazaars alongside lesser trained artists. Possessed of a high degree of skill, they were able to adapt their traditional Mughal style to the desire of British and European patrons for works displaying naturalistic drawing, shading, and perspective.

A subsection of the exhibition entitled Myriad Visions examines the artistic interaction between the Kalighat painters and other artists and traditions. The challenge South Asian artists of all periods have faced is how to express artistic genius while portraying traditional subjects bound by iconographic prescription and regional style. Kalighat artists looked for inspiration not only to earlier existing works within their rich Bengali cultural heritage and contemporary art forms being practiced elsewhere in Calcutta, but to works made in other media and regions as well. Far from slavishly imitating the earlier or foreign forms, however, Kalighat artists created dynamic new interpretations of religious subjects that, nevertheless, remained within the broad confines of the heterogeneous Kalighat visual canon. Myriad Visions contrasts a number of cross-cultural depictions of deities to suggest the significant degree of artistic exchange or borrowing that transpired between the Kalighat painters and the Calcutta art world.> Images from a Changing World: Kalighat Paintings of Calcutta presents the rich milieu of Kalighat painting in three thematic sections: The Art of Nineteenth-Century Calcutta discusses the various contemporary arts relevant to the formation of Kalighat painting. The World of Kalighat Painting provides a topical overview of the wide range of Kalighat subject matter organized into religious, historical, genre, and social commentary images. The Kalighat Legacy reveals the substantial effect Kalighat painting had on later South Asian artists in terms of theme, style, and freedom from convention.

The Art of Nineteenth-Century Calcutta In 1773 Calcutta was made the capital of British India. Not only did entrepreneurs and adventurers flock to Calcutta, but also architects and professional artists seeking patronage, such as William Devis (1762-1822). Exhibitions of oil paintings by visiting European artists and the plenitude of Western prints and drawings available for sale in the bazaars introduced a new artistic world to the Indian artists, merchants, and affluent landowners who were drawn to Calcutta.

With the breakdown of traditional patronage opportunities caused by the decline of the Mughal empire, some Indian court artists moved to Calcutta, where they were often reduced by economic necessity to sell their works in the bazaars alongside lesser trained artists. Possessed of a high degree of skill, they were able to adapt their traditional Mughal style to the desire of British and European patrons for works displaying naturalistic drawing, shading, and perspective.

A subsection of the exhibition entitled Myriad Visions examines the artistic interaction between the Kalighat painters and other artists and traditions. The challenge South Asian artists of all periods have faced is how to express artistic genius while portraying traditional subjects bound by iconographic prescription and regional style. Kalighat artists looked for inspiration not only to earlier existing works within their rich Bengali cultural heritage and contemporary art forms being practiced elsewhere in Calcutta, but to works made in other media and regions as well. Far from slavishly imitating the earlier or foreign forms, however, Kalighat artists created dynamic new interpretations of religious subjects that, nevertheless, remained within the broad confines of the heterogeneous Kalighat visual canon. Myriad Visions contrasts a number of cross-cultural depictions of deities to suggest the significant degree of artistic exchange or borrowing that transpired between the Kalighat painters and the Calcutta art world.>Stylistically, Kalighat painting primarily developed out of the Bengali tradition of narrative scroll painting, which was condensed and stripped of nonessentials to produce images quickly, and thereby better exploit the burgeoning market opportunities in the Calcutta bazaars. At first, images of Hindu deities and myths were the leading subjects, but by the middle of the nineteenth century the Kalighat artists began to be concerned with portraying the world around them. Contemporary newsworthy figures and genre images were depicted, and social issues were commented upon in satirical and metaphorical images, much in the same fashion as the popular literature of the age.

Images from a Changing World: Kalighat Paintings of Calcutta presents the rich milieu of Kalighat painting in three thematic sections: The Art of Nineteenth-Century Calcutta discusses the various contemporary arts relevant to the formation of Kalighat painting. The World of Kalighat Painting provides a topical overview of the wide range of Kalighat subject matter organized into religious, historical, genre, and social commentary images. The Kalighat Legacy reveals the substantial effect Kalighat painting had on later South Asian artists in terms of theme, style, and freedom from convention.

The Art of Nineteenth-Century Calcutta In 1773 Calcutta was made the capital of British India. Not only did entrepreneurs and adventurers flock to Calcutta, but also architects and professional artists seeking patronage, such as William Devis (1762-1822). Exhibitions of oil paintings by visiting European artists and the plenitude of Western prints and drawings available for sale in the bazaars introduced a new artistic world to the Indian artists, merchants, and affluent landowners who were drawn to Calcutta.

With the breakdown of traditional patronage opportunities caused by the decline of the Mughal empire, some Indian court artists moved to Calcutta, where they were often reduced by economic necessity to sell their works in the bazaars alongside lesser trained artists. Possessed of a high degree of skill, they were able to adapt their traditional Mughal style to the desire of British and European patrons for works displaying naturalistic drawing, shading, and perspective.

A subsection of the exhibition entitled Myriad Visions examines the artistic interaction between the Kalighat painters and other artists and traditions. The challenge South Asian artists of all periods have faced is how to express artistic genius while portraying traditional subjects bound by iconographic prescription and regional style. Kalighat artists looked for inspiration not only to earlier existing works within their rich Bengali cultural heritage and contemporary art forms being practiced elsewhere in Calcutta, but to works made in other media and regions as well. Far from slavishly imitating the earlier or foreign forms, however, Kalighat artists created dynamic new interpretations of religious subjects that, nevertheless, remained within the broad confines of the heterogeneous Kalighat visual canon. Myriad Visions contrasts a number of cross-cultural depictions of deities to suggest the significant degree of artistic exchange or borrowing that transpired between the Kalighat painters and the Calcutta art world.


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