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ARTISTS

Indian Painting

The earliest known Indian paintings have been found on the walls of caves in northern India. Painted in red ocher, they represent animal hunts, and so closely resemble similar scenes found in the Paleolithic caves of Spain that archaeologists believe the two to be contemporary. Along the Indus River valley in northwestern India there existed by at least 2750 B.C. a highly developed culture which produced well modeled figures in the round and a certain amount of painted pottery. The pottery might possibly justify us in assuming that other forms of painting existed on more perishable materials, as evidenced by the floral, geometrical, and animal designs on the pottery which has been excavated in Harappa, Mohenjo-Darb, and Chanhu-Daro.

We have no examples of painting which can be proved to date from the period when the various Hindu cults were developing. About the 6th century B.C. there arose the two dissenting sects of Jainism and Buddhism, which were to provide inspiration for some of the greatest Indian painting. On the walls of cave temples and monasteries at Ajanta and Bagh, Buddhist murals have been discovered the earliest of which probably were executed about the 2nd century B.C. Although so far no close predecessors of this art have been found, the murals are obviously the products of a school of artists who had benefited from the lore of many previous centuries. The subjects were mostly scenes from the Jataka stories, tales of events in Buddha's previous incarnations. These gave the artists a chance to bring the subjects of everyday Indian life into their work, and as a result scenes from the Buddha's historical and legendary existences are truly revealing evidence of the customs of Gupta India.

Techniques in Indian Murals

The technique used in Indian wall painting cannot be called true fresco. The rough surface of the wall which was to bear the decoration was first covered with a layer of clay mixed with hair or straw. After this had been smoothed and dried, a coat of fine white clay was applied. On that priming coat the outline of the design was drawn in red. Then the various pigments were laid on with attention to modeling and light and shade. During the whole process the white clay or plaster ground was kept moist. The painting was finished when the whole design was re-outlined and then burnished. Although there was no use of three-dimensional perspective as we know it, the artists, by subtle use of light foreground colors and dark background colors, managed' to achieve the effect of modeling. Every attitude was carefully studied, and the figures were full of vitality and movement.

Those magnificent wall paintings still remaining from the Gupta period (c.318.-500 A.D.) have late Hindu counterparts at Badami in Bijapur. For by the end of the 7th century Hinduism had again become the dominant religion in northern India. The wall paintings at Badami (578 A.D.), the earliest still preserved, are in the tradition of the paintings at Ajanta, although the subjects are concerned with the Hindu deity Vishnu. In the 7th century Jain caves were also decorated with wall paintings, such as those at Sittannavassal. Other Buddhist murals of the 5th century are still preserved at Sigiriya in Ceylon. In cave temples at Elura are the finest medieval Hindu wall paintings. There the ceiling decorations are from two periods, with the early 8th century productions still bearing the mark of the earlier Ajanta tradition. However, the paintings from the late 8th and early 9th centuries show the evolution of a new style, which has as its most characteristic trait its manner of depicting the human face. The bulging eyeballs and extremely pointed facial features foreshadow the later miniature style in Gujarat.

Palo Period: 8th to 12th Century A.D.

The Pala rulers in northeastern India were followers of Buddhism. Although no wall paintings have survived from the Bengal Valley, the contemporary pictorial art of Buddhism is preserved for us on palm leaf manuscripts of the Buddhist sutras. Although the painting was necessarily in miniature, it still retained the plastic emphasis so familiar in Indian sculpture. The drawing was delicate and there was a notably lively outline. This tradition is best preserved in the later Buddhist paintings produced in Nepal and Tibet.

Manuscript Painting

A school of manuscript painting (Early Western Indian) flourished in Gujarat from the 13th to the 17th century and was patronized principally by Jains. Here too the early miniatures were painted on palm leaves. But about 1400 paper, introduced from Persia, came into use for bookmaking and quickly replaced the palm leaf as the ground for painting. All of these manuscripts are Jain texts, with illustrations that are notable for their brilliant colors. Gold and Persian blue, derived from lapis lazuli, were lavishly used. However, the outstanding characteristic of the school is its habit of drawing figures in three-quarters view with the eyes shown as projecting beyond the face, which usually has a very sharply pointed nose and pronounced chin. In the 16th century this style of painting became less popular and was replaced by what is now known as the Rajput school.

The Rajput School

This school takes its name from the princes who ruled from the 16th to the 19th century in Rajputana and the foothills of the Punjab. To their courts the artists who developed the style were attached. In this school were produced what may be called truly Indian paintings. Despite evidence of a certain amount of Persian influence, most of the miniatures belonging to the school differ radically from those of the closely contemporary Mogul school of painting, whose artists worked in the south of India. The Rajput artists synthesized their traditional folk painting and their classical inheritance to produce a style which was employed to great advantage in the illustration of purely Indian lore. Indian epics, Vaishnava literature, and the romantic musical modes were the favorite subjects in their literature. The paintings were usually small, and were executed in a technique much like that of the contemporary wall paintings, although the miniatures were painted on paper.

The history of this type of painting is divided into an early period (16th and early 17th centuries) and a late period (mid-17th to early 19th century). In the latter part of its history the school is divided geographically into paintings produced in Rajputana and Bundelkhand, known as the Rajasthani school, and paintings produced. in Jammu and Kangra, which are classed as belonging to the Pahari school.

In the earliest period the Rajput paintings are characterized by a decorative flatness with no feeling for modeling. There seem to be traces of the continuing influence of the Gujarat school. However, as the painters become more sophisticated the drawing becomes more delicate, and although the artists are still more interested in the idea expressed in the painting than in the achievement of realism, the figures are taking on a greater animation. Perhaps the most exquisite of all Raj put painting was produced in the city of Kangra. Here the artists have advanced in the realism with which they treat their subjects, but especially, as their prime achievement, they have developed a masterful control of line. With this exquisite line they impart an almost lyrical quality to their drawing. The colors are soft and perfectly adapted to the mood of the painting. In fact, many of the works rely almost entirely on line and show very little color. Although most of the artists' efforts were used to illustrate Hindu tales and religious texts, a certain number of portraits were painted. In them, as in all Raj put work, the subject is shown in profile.

In the Deccan, in south central India, the Hindu tradition of painting was encouraged in the 16th century by the Mohammedan rulers of Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, Bidar, and Golconda. Despite some understandable Muslim influence, the Hindu painters, encouraged by their Muslim rulers, remained true to their own traditions. In their manuscript illustrations they achieved a sweeping movement, and often treated the subject in a romantic manner. Many of the artists seem preoccupied with the treatment of transparent draperies, all executed with extremely delicate drawing. White and gold were favorite colors in the artist's palette.

Mogul School: 16th-19th Century

When Babur (r. 1526-1530), a descendant of Timur, conquered India, he brought with him the culture of Islam. Humayun (r. 1530-1542; 1555-1556), Baber's successor, spent some time in exile in Persia, and upon his return to India in 1555 he introduced a number of Iranian painters to his court. He had become acquainted with the work of the great court painters of his Iranian host, Shah Tahmasp. Two of them he persuaded to visit his court at Kabul and there to illustrate an Iranian adventure tale, the Dastan-i-Amir-Hamza. These men were Khwaja Abd as Samad and Mir Sayyid Ali. In 1549 they came from Tabriz and began a tremendous undertaking which took thirty years to complete. They were indeed the true founders of the Mogul school of painting. This AmirHamza contained originally 1,400 paintings, each on a cotton cloth which measured 2 feet, 6/ inches by 2 feet, 1 inch. A number of them are still preserved in public and private collections in Europe and America.

Akbar the Great (r. 1556-1605), Humayun's son, was a lover and patron of the arts and in his new capital founded a school where as many as a hundred artists were instructed by Iranian masters. Here too was a large and fine collection of Iranian miniatures for the guidance of the pupils. Naturally the result of this influence was strong. During Akbar's reign European elements began to appear in Mogul art as a result of the visits between 1580 and 1605 of a number of Jesuit artists, who were received with great interest by the emperor. For the first time Western perspective and the use of chiaroscuro appeared in contemporary paintings. Akbar was a man of action and of vision, essentially a creative person. His son and successor, Jahangir (r. 1605-1627), was also a great patron of the arts but a passive person who prided himself on his taste and powers as a connoisseur. He was not so deeply interested in manuscript illustrations as his father, but concerned himself mostly with the development of Indian portraiture. Paintings showing events in his own life, and realistic studies of plants and animals were his chief interest. His - three great court painters were Mansur, Murad, and Manohar, all skilled artists. Mansur painted birds, animals, and flowers, and some of his bird and flower studies which are preserved to this day show him to be a truly great master. In the early 17th century, in the reign of Shah Jahan (r. 16281658), Mogul portraiture reached its highest peak of development. The brilliant life of the court was magnificently shown by such artists as Muhammad Fakhir-ullah Khan, Mir Hashim, Hunhar, and others. Shah Jahan's eldest son was also a collector and patron of the arts, but unfortunately his usurping brother, Aurangzeb (r. 1658-1707), discontinued the court patronage of artists in the last half of the 17th century because of his Muslim religious scruples. As a result Mogul painting declined in quality. Although the nobles then began to interest themselves in the court artists, the decline continued through the 18th and 19th centuries. The painters' acceptance of Western standards of art also contributed to the renunciation of their artistic heritage.

In our own century a renewed emphasis on native traditions is manifest in Indian painting. The Bengal school, with its center in Calcutta, is producing water colors which are closer to Indian traditional art than were the works of the centuries just preceding, and may lead to a renaissance in India. Other schools exist today in Bombay and Madras, and a revival of painting in the Muslim tradition has been attempted at Lucknow.