Kali ka ghat

Kalighat painting or Kalighat Pat,  19th century Bengal

The vicinity of Kalighat, Kali Temple, Kolkota,

History -The traditional art of scroll paintings were the only schools of
painting, flourishing in 19th cent., now popular in the rural areas.
These paintings were done on cloth or patas.
The Patuas or the artists, were villagers who travelled from place to
place with their scroll paintings and sang the scenes from the epics
depicted in the paintings during village gatherings and festivals.
They depicted conventional images of gods and goddesses and scenes
from epics like Tulsidas’ Rama charita manas.
These artists were said to be half Hindu and half Muslim and practiced
Islam.
 Chaukash patas (square or rectangular paintings)

Rupban Chitrakar  Noya village, West Bengal

Gurupada Chitrakar  Noya village, West Bengal Kolkata Tram  2000s
Mahishasuramardini (Durga as Slayer of the Demon water-based paint on paper 11" x 14"
Mahisha) 2000s In this painting, a village artist gives her humorous impression
water-based paint on paper 15" x 11" of crowded public transportation in the big city.
 Jarano patas (scroll paintings))

Shyamsundar Chitrakar Village Story with Devotion to Shiva

2000s water-based paint on cloth scroll, ca. 9" wide x 55" long Noya village, West Bengal  
 Rupban Citrakar  Noya village, West Bengal
Tribal villagers. These paintings sometimes have allusions to
the torments in hell for bad behavior. 2000s
Water-based paint on paper 14" x 9" 
Collection of Pat Simpson and John Elder

Artist unknown; The creation of the world, according

to Santal mythology. (Santal pata) West Bengal 
2000s  water-based paint on paper
14” x 9” glued to paper 15” x 10"
Variety in themes
The Kalighat School developed as an agreeable and unique blend of
two different styles of painting—the Oriental and the Occidental—and
steadily gained popularity.
From the depiction of Hindu gods, and other mythological characters,
it developed to reflect their favorite goddess Kali.
Images of Durga, Lakshmi, and Annapurna were also popular,
especially during the Durga Puja festival.
Themes like Sita-Rama, Radha-Krishna and the exploits of Hanuman
were also made. Or that of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his disciples.
The Kalighat artists did not restrict themselves to religious themes but
different professions and costumes were also popular with the
tourists.
Capturing Daily Life
The folk art of Kalighat did not keep itself divorced from life.
Events of burning interest, social oddities and idiosyncrasies, follies
and foibles of people, and hypocrisies and meanness—these never
escaped the Kalighat painters.
Even contemporary events like crime were the subject of many
paintings.
The artists also chose to portray secular themes and personalities
and in the process played a role in the Independence movement.
Example heroic characters like Tipu Sultan and Rani Lakshmibai.
This trend continued up to the early part of the twentieth century
and these paintings ended up in museums and private collections.
The patrons
Having established themselves in the country politically, the
British, started to evince interest in art, literature, and music.
Institutions for learning art were also established to impart a
European style of academic training to Indian artists.
The Calcutta School of Art, was one such school and attracted
traditional artists –the patua-to the city.
Gradually, they started to learn from the newer techniques
and discovered that these could help them increase their
earnings.
They started creating new forms of art and the Kalighat
painting was born.
The charm of the Kalighat paintings lies in the fact that they
captured the essence of daily life and they influenced modern
artists like the late Jamini Roy and others.
With their bold simplifications, strong lines, vibrant colours and
visual rhythm, these paintings have a surprising affinity to modern
art.
Perhaps the first school of painting in India that is truly modern as
well as popular.
From items of souvenir taken by the visitors to the Kali temple, the
paintings over a period of time developed as a distinct school
of Indian painting.
A good glimpse of the religious and social life of Bengal during the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries may be understood.
Mythological pictures are still retained and held in great honour in
the family shrine of every Hindu household, and other popular
subjects brighten up the homes of all classes of people in the land.
They missed nothing that they saw.
Thus, the sepoys in old-fashioned pre-Mutiny costume, with shakos
instead of turbans feature side by side with European gentlemen
shaking hands instead of bowing.
Sold in thousands all over India to both Europeans and Indians.
Domestic subjects, or domestic satire, were not neglected. 
They had a moralizing intent and would draw the caricatures in
such a way as would repel ordinary people from such activities.
The style
The style is characterized by formal and linear drawings, meaningful
gestures, quality brushwork and flawless rhythmic strokes.
The drawings are bold and attractive and at the same time their
technique is different and simple.
The painted pictures involving just one or two figures that could be
painted quickly with simple forms leaving the background plain and
eliminating non- essential details. 
With shaded contours and articulated gesture and movement, the
figures attained a plaque-like effect on a neutral unpainted ground.
Brushes were made from squirrel and calf hair.
Cheap color pigments were applied in transparent tones, which
was totally different from the traditional way of Indian tempera.
Hanuman Durga
Radha Krishna Brahma
Durga
Girl playing a sitar Girl combing her hair.
Lady with a Peacock
Bird perched on a
Vaisnva’s tonsured
head, a satirical
Kalighat painting.

Cat eating a Parrot. Kalighat pata painting,

early twentieth century, Calcutta.
 Kalighat style

Prabir Chitrakar Barber Cleaining a Woman's Ear 

Gurupada Chitrakar  Cat Eating a Prawn (pata in Kalighat style) (pata in Kalighat style) 2000s
2000s water-based paint on paper 11" x 10" water-based paint on paper 16" x 12"
Noya village, West Bengal (a false monk who renounces the world (comments on the activities of fashionable
but cannot control his eating or his lustful desires.) upper-class women.)
A Bengali Baboo with
his lover, a common
social satire on the
habits of nineteenth
century Bengali middle-
class urban gentlemen.
In 1873, the Tarakeshwar murder case was a public
scandal in Calcutta based on an affair between
Elokeshi, the young attractive wife of Nabinchandra
Banerji and the mahant or chief priest of the Shiva
temple at Tarakeshwar.
Upon discovering the affair, Nabinchandra Banerji cut
Elokeshi’s throat with a fish knife.
In the trial, Nabin was sentenced to life imprisonment
and the Mahant was fined and imprisoned for 3
years.
Mahant offering Child Birth
control medicine to Elokeshi
Nabin Kills Elokeshi
The court hearing
scene of the murder
case. 19th cent.

The Mahant, the hindu

Shaivait sadhu convicted
in a murder case turning
oil press in Hoogli jail.
19th cent.
The decline
Cheap oleographs of all sorts from Germany and from Bombay
gradually took the field, some of them blatant imitations of Kalighat
paintings.
These cheap copies have practically killed hand-painted art
production as a business and with it the artistic instincts and creative
faculty of the painters of Kalighat.
Not being able to cope with the competition of machine-made
productions cheaper than hand-drawn and hand painted pictures
selling at two or four paise each, their children have now taken to
other professions.
In recent years, young Bhaskar Chitrakar,
inspired by his grandfather, has actively revived
the art form by continuously painting in the old
style and also re-inventing the pata-chitra with
contemporary themes and ideas.   He is the last
active Kalighat patua still living and working in
the Kalighat area.
Combining the old Kalighat style with miniature
painting in all it's details.    
He continues to use traditional powder
pigments, grinding them himself, mixing gum-
arabic and chemicals to ensure longevity, and
using the best paper and finest brushes to
execute his charming works. 
Especially his "Babu" series where a dose of wry
humour is injected into each work. 
A critique
In India, the ancient Sanskrit texts largely served as the yardstick for judging the merit
of art forms. The written word was considered far more important than pictorial
expressions.
Since they lacked the authority of the sacred text, the rural and folk visual forms of the
Kalighat Paintings were considered inferior expressions, unworthy of any attention.
Kalighat painting started getting its deserved attention and appreciation only in the
twentieth century.
Traditional Indian art was facing an imminent threat from the aggressive western
culture.
Thus, the preservation of traditional Indian art became a prime concern.
Local traditions suddenly assumed supreme importance and there was an acute need
for protecting, documenting and reviving rural art.
This largely led to Kalighat Paintings coming into the limelight. Since then, it has been
recognized as a brilliantly inventive aesthetic movement, and has received significant
international attention.
Bibliography:
1. The making of a New ‘Indian’ Art c. 1850-1920
By Tapati Guha Thakurta (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1992)
2. Indian Art  By Partha Mittar (Oxford Univ. Press, 2001)
3. Art and Nationalism in Colonial India (1850-1922) Occidental orientations
By Partha Mittar (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1994)
4. Trends in Modern Indian Art, (M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd. 1994)
By S.K. Bhattacharya
Thankyou!