Prehistoric stage.
When talking about India’s painting, it must be taken into account that it occupies a very vast region and that it received influences from other cultures, being according to the historical and religious situation that developed differently in each region.
In relation to the emergence of painting in Indian art, vestiges of representations in rock painting in Bhimbetka have been found; close to the Bhopal area in approximately one thousand caves. The date established for these caves dates from the Paleolithic period (7000 BC). In such a remote time the residents of this area were still forming the foundations of civilization and yet the exemplary insipas of pictorial realization are carried out on the walls of these caverns that also used as protection of the inclement weather and animals.
You dare of the representation of stylized human figures through simple strokes, they are observed by participating in hunting activities, which according to their beliefs led to good hunting and the abundance of food. The figure of the animals is more robust also using strokes that try to give a sensation of volume, being this figure of the predominant animal in the set.
They are also observed in these paintings also dances, representation of births of births and burials and of course of religious rites that were since then a main theme due to the need to have favorable climatic conditions that allowed subsistence. For the aforementioned hunting issues, it is known about the typical fauna that chronologically corresponded to that period of prehistory in India, where elephants, tigers, rhinoceros and bison can be seen even today in these cave paintings that are preserved.
Evolution of Indian painting after the prehistoric period.
In the different periods of the long history of Indian painting, we observe that the result of this amalgam of cultures, religions, politics and social castes as well as the performance of economic development in each region, defined pictorial tendencies and techniques of elaboration of the same as although different; According to its origin, it also offers some common realization characteristics.
Common characteristics of realization of painting in India dare of time.
– The ability to adapt its artists.
– Your love of nature and animals.
– The detail and thoroughness of your work. (one of the most important).
– The use of incredible visual games among the elements of the set.
– Most frequent use of three -dimensional volume instead of chiaroscuro.
– Realistic and naturalist shadow.
Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism in the plastic of India.
The work in painting workshops in India was organized according to the different levels of specialization and mastery. The work of the artists, also determined by the family tradition or belonging to a specific caste, used to be anonymous.
In Indian painting especially in the period of Hinduism, the deities are often represented with multiple arms, especially when they are busy in combat using their cosmic form for the destruction of powerful forces of evil. The multiplicity of arms highlights the immense power of deity and its ability to perform several exploits at the same time. The Indian artist is inclined to representations of this type since they constitute a simple and also effective means of expressing the omnipresence and omnipotence of a deity. Demons are often symbolized with multiple heads to indicate their superhuman power.
The occasional representation of one deity with more than one head is generally motivated by the desire to portray different aspects of the character of that deity. Thus, when God Shivá is represented with a triple head, the central face indicates its essential character and the remaining faces represent the aspects of fierceness and happiness.
The narrative and symbolic style that these paintings of India make up is effective in understanding the message by believers and worshipers, however we had mentioned previously; Difficult to understand by the viewer not known about stories, rites and legends related to these religions. In the case of Buddhist painting, the issue is limited to representing the figure of Buddha offering protection and spreading these teachings.
The paintings for the sacred illuminations of the temples in India.
They were not only extremely beautiful and with a high level of detail and finish but also, ordering copies of these texts was a very important religious action since it increased karma; concept based on the belief that any action (karma in Sanskrit) has its consequences.
The tradition of illuminating manuscripts began to flourish in India around the eleventh century, in the Buddhist monasteries, where scenes were painted that embellished copies of the sacred texts and facilitated meditation. Faithful of Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism commissioned these religious texts, which then donated to temples to increase their spiritual merits. The oldest works of this genre were painted in palm leaves, and in a horizontal format that would be preserved even after the paper into India.
Until the fifteenth century, Indian painters used a conservative and repetitive style, with a limited palette and scarce thematic amplitude; But this change when the dissemination of the illustration work prepared in the workshops of the Cortes in the early 16th century. The training that local artists received there, was an enrichment of their work and encouraged them to illustrate new texts, such as the victories of the Kali goddess, devotional works to the Krisna god or philosophical texts.
The thematic representation in general is expanded now from worldly matters (with apparent insignificance), through religious issues and the pictorial staging of popular legends and stories.
Lyric period of plastic in India.
From the fifteenth century in India, the most popular Persian narratives commissioned by an elite clientele settled here, consisting of wealthy Persian families that no longer seeks to increase their spiritual merits but seeks to show these works as a sign of education, wealth and cultural sophistication while fulfilling the decorative function of visual delight.
These carefully illustrations denote a sumptuousness that amazes viewers, a significant example is observed in one of the first works that were illustrated in India and that was a version of the Khamsa, a set of five Persian poems written in the thirteenth century that related the conquests of Alexander the Great and the love and epic feats of various historical characters. The illustrations of this period are known as lyrical because of their high poetic, epic and dramatic content very in tune with the influence of Persian art.
India painting during the Mogol period.
The painting of the corresponding period with the splendor of the Mogol Empire has left as an inheritance one of the most recognized representations of Indian art. Emperor Akbar (1556-1605) was partly responsible for this magnificence explosion, the contract for a hundred talented Indian artists to work in the imperial workshop under the direction of seven painters from the Iran court.
The works that the artists of this group were carried out jointly were subject to the realism imposed by the emperor’s taste and constitute an excellent set that reveals a new style, endowed with an unprecedented vitality that departs from the traditional and already repetitive themes and schematism of previous styles.
This sumptuous painting is characterized by its brilliant color, by its incredible detail and by the graphic wealth with which the narratives that captivated the powerful Mogoles emperors of India and their courtly circles are represented. Mainly under the tutelage of Emperor Mogol Akbar in the 16th century as well as their successors, some painters came to highlight and their work was highly appreciated by collectors.
Both Akbar and his successors in power were interested in the European prints that from the sixteenth century the Jesuit missionaries led India. These prints, as well as the appearance of Mogolas paintings in 18th -century Europe led to the incorporation of oriental elements in Western painting and also served of course inspiration to Indian artists. This curious intercultural dialogue that is specified thanks to mutual aesthetic loans and stylistic was an important chapter in the entire series of external influences that contributed to form Indian painting.
Indian painters during the period of the Eastern Indies Company.
The works carried out by Indian artists for British officials and merchants linked to the Eastern Indies Company reflect their interest in scientific research methods that generalized in 18th -century Europe, and reproduce with realism examples of local flora and fauna.
Indian plastic artists played very European artistic conventions like; Shadow, perspective and discreet chromatism, as well as a certain sense of distancing between the spectator and the work. These paintings extend even during the period of British domination, Mogol interest in the animalist genre.
Members of the British company based in India asked the local Indian artists works in which local animals and fauna were represented. These works reach a surprising technical domain where their colorful vibrant stands out, which contributes so much to the masterful compositions of the artists of that time. Local artists adapted their traditional practices and skills consolidated by the time to respond to British requirements. It can be said that a hobby for the picturesque takes place at this stage.
During the period that follows an interest towards the portrait (especially of important characters, it contributes to documenting important people and events. The cameo -style portrait becomes very popular in this period, until the demand for this type of works declined from 1848, when the company of the Eastern Indies began to dissolve and a new medium, photography, largely replaced the painting as a procedure to document the inhabitants and the places of the already official colony of the empire British
In the next article we will address the sculpture in India that had a considerable weight as a means of worship in this culture.