Indian art which is so diverse and offers distinct style of art from each region, wherever you go, you would find a tint of art everywhere and there are artist all over India and artist contributions to Indian art is immense. And the tradition of Indian art is being carried on since the ancient times in the Indian subcontinent when you look in the Indian art history.
The Indian art varies from place to place depending on the place it is found and the art depends on the religious traditions, traditional skills, historical influences and raw material found in that particular area. And you would be amazed to know that Indian art has had a great influence on the art of Asia.
There are many artist contributions to Indian art in the history of art, here are a few of them:
Raja Ravi Verma:
Raja Ravi Verma, who is also known as ‘The Father of Modern Indian Art’. He was an Indian painter, who was of 18th century and he was the one who attained recognition as a painter in that century. He is one of the greatest painters when you talk about the history of Indian art.
He has his own unique style like he mustered the western art of oil painting but with that he used realistic life study and the themes which he painted was from Indian mythology.
And here are some major contributions of Raja Ravi Verma to Indian art:
- Secular paintings: Secular sacred images was given birth by him, and you can found them even today in puja rooms, calendar advertisement and even on packaging products.
- Depiction of women: He very often modelled Hindu Goddesses on South Indian women. The most famous work of his was a painting ‘A Lady Playing Swarbat’. His paintings depicted episodes from the very well known stories from the epic Mahabharata.
- European fusion: When you are looking for a perfect fusion of European techniques and purely Indian sensibility, then his work is the best example. There is tradition and aesthetic of Indian art, where the paintings also employed the latest European academic art techniques.
- Challenging caste and class hierarchies: His paintings were circulated to all the caste and class which broke the idea or belief that the paintings were just not meant to rest solely within temples or in the private collection of people. He was the first artist who made his work available to the mass market which enhanced his reach to various people irrespective of their caste or class.
- Insights of Indian mythology: His painting depicted insight of many famous Indian mythological stories. His work helped in recounting the beauty and enjoyment of the Indian mythology.
- Depiction of social realities: A famous painting of his ‘A Family of Beggars’ represented a down state of Indian economy. He showcased all the major realities really well.
And hence, as an artist contributions to Indian art, Raja Ravi Verma played a keen role.
John Fernandes:
John Fernandes is an Indian Oil painting artist and for art students he was the god of figurative drawing. John was known to be one of the finest realistic painters in India. The drawings he did was learned from nature, from memory and from various live models.
He used various mediums such as pencils, charcoal, crayons, water colours all with equal ease. For Indian art, his figurative paintings depicted the provocative and yet sensually innocent look of his women in the painting.
He portrayed the beauty and sensuality of the subject and even he painted several wonderful landscapes related to Indian art. And made significant artist contributions to Indian art in the art history.
Deenanth Dalal:
Deenanth Dalal, a classical painter while paintings were majorly about his realisation of the contemporary values of the Indian art and his experience. He depicted various aspects in the fields of the Indian art which included mythological events, social issues, history, and various political issues in his paintings.
Portraits of various famous Indian personalities were painted by him, who are Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Vinoba Bhave. Deenanth Dalal was once an inspiration for all the budding artist.
Sawlaram Lakshman Haldankar:
Sawlaram Lakshman Haldankar, who is also known as S L Haldankar was well known and reputed Indian Painter. He was hands down good and accomplished in watercolours and oil both and had a mastery over portraits.
His achievements are even ranked as one of the three fine watercolourist of the world in an Italian encyclopaedia and even his work can be found in various prominent museums of the world .
And he mostly depicted Indian women, for artist contributions to Indian art, his most famous painting is currently exhibited at Jaganmohan Palace in Mysore which is called the Glow of Hope, also known as Women with the lamp, in which the subject was his daughter.
S Elayaraja:
S Elayaraja, is known for his paintings of Dravidian women. He exhibited amazing artistic skills and he had a great love for oil colours. His interest were in various medium of art which included watercolour, oil paint and acrylic.
S Elayaraja oil painting depicted realistic subjects and would also be sometimes be mistaken as real lens photograph by layman. His paintings revealed the emotions and expressions of all the women he painted and as he was a realistic artist, he successfully brings that essence of a village life into his paintings. And he made a great artist contributions to Indian art.
There are a lot many artist contributions to Indian art in the art history and you can learn and take inspiration from each and every one of them. Because every artist is important and special in his or her essence.
And for learning more about art and want to pursue art as a career you can visit our site of Rang De Bharat Chitrakala Kshetra. Take a step, the most colourful world is waiting for you!
Picture Credits: Google Arts & Culture
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