FINE ARTS
View
Art Gallery
RAJASTHAN
MINIATURE PAINTINGS
Rajasthan has played an
important role in the history and developments of Indian art from the earliest times. The
Rajasthani genius was at work in the Ghaggar basin in the northwest where Harappan
civilization flourished. It was at work also in the Chambal valley to the east where
numerous caves and rock shelters with pre-historic and early historic paintings have come
to light. The tradition grew vigorously, in everyday rituals, in the embellishment of
dwellings and household objects, and in the illustration of palm-leaf manuscripts.
The socio-cultural development
in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries provided an idea background for the growth of
flourishing schools of painting. The styles of paintings are :
Radha and Krishna form
Jayadeva's classic composition
Geet Govinda
Romance and Poetry also
dominated the literary and artistic creations
Nayak-Nayika Bheda
Baramasa
In seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, Rajasthani kings started to show their wealth and complete as patrons. The
styles of paintings are : 
Portraits
Scenes of dance and music
parties
Hunting
Various Festivals
Scene from every day life
Pictures of birds and animals
The main centers were Mewar ,
Bundi-Kotah, Bikaner, Amer-Jaipur and Marwar.
MEWAR SCHOOL
Mewar School developed and
flourished under inspiring patrons. Jewel-like colors, suavity of lines, short figures
with pretty faces, heavy almond eyes, the nosegay projecting from the nose, and a graceful
stylization of trees and animals made them distinctive, especially till the seventeenth
century.
Interesting offshoots of the
Mewar School were Thikana of Deogarh and the famous pilgrim center of Nathdwara. Paintings
of significance were also produced at Dungarpur, Banswara, Salumbar, Partabgarh, Delwara,
Benera and Bijolia.
BUNDI-KOTA SCHOOL
Bundi was a smaller state with
a different landscape and environment : flowing rivers, jungle-covered mountains and lush
green fields. Its rulers had allied with the Mughals, and from the last decade of the
sixteenth century, paintings in a graceful and remarkable style had begun to appears.
Paintings of animals fight,
hunting, romance and music predominate over devotional subjects. Rich and brilliant
coloring, keenly observed nature, beautiful women with gracefully proportioned bodies etc.
BIKANER
The desert state of
Bikaner patronized a style, which was a direct derivative of the Mughal Style, especially
in portraiture. A group of Muslims painter worked there and produced many sophisticated
works with delicate lines and muted colors noticed in the works of Jahangir's atelier.
JODHPUR
In Jodhpur the vista
was totally different with a strong folk idiom already in existence. Vigorous males with
extra-ordinary turbans and dainty ladies pointed with bold strokes of lines and colors,
riding on galloping horses and caparisoned camels. As in the paintings of Dhola-Maru,
dominate the paintings of the Marwar region. |
