The Inside Story

Medieval Period : Rajasthani Paintings An 18th-century Rajput painting by the artist  Nihâl Chand . Inspired by the bhakti movement of Medieval India and Hinduism, the Prakrit style developed in the form of Rajasthani paintings. The beginning of Rajasthani paintings started in 16th century where the scenes of Karishna-Lila, Nayika-Bheda and Ragmala are famous. The Rajasthani artist is inspired by his own imagination. The paintings of this school mostly flourished into the royal palaces due to which the following local traditions evolved. Mewar Style Mewar school of Rajput paintings are concentrated on its conservation style, trying to avoid the dominance of the Mughals. The earlist example of the Mewar school is that of Chawand Ragmala, dating back to 1605. Towards the end of the 17th and 18th centurty, Mewar style saw revival and late 18th century again witnessed its decline. From mid 19th century to mid 20th century, it continued as a court art. The Radha-Karishn

Paintings of Historic Era : Classical Age   The paintings of this period are dominated by the tradition of wall paintings. The paintings of this era are present at Ajanta, Ellora, Bagh, Jogimara, Badami, Sittanavasal, Elephanta caves etc. Ajanta      The World Heritage Site of Ajanta caves are located about 107 km from the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, in the basin of river Bagheera. The Chinese traveller HuanTsang gives an interesting description of these caves. In modern times James Ferguson  in his monograph Rock-Cut Temples of India which 4 are Chaitya and 25 are Viharas. These rock-cut caves were made from 200 BC to 7th century under the patronage of Shunga, Kushana, Gupta, Vakataka and Chalukya dynasties. The oldest caves are 10, 9 and 12. Cave no 1 belongs to 7th century AD, while 16 and 17 belong to Gupta period. Wide View Of A Late Chaitya Hall With A Stupa         Ellora Paintings      About 97km from Ajanata, these UNESCO World Heritage p

INDIAN ART : Prehistoric Paintings                         Bhimbetka Cave paintings                    The   prehistoric paintings are in the form of murals . These murals were made by the prehistoric man using his tools on the inner walls of the cave. Archibald Carlleyle and John Cockburn were the first to highlight the importance of Indian mural paintings. They gave an introduction to the Kaimur (Mirzapur) hill paintings in 1880 AD. in year 1917, the art historian Percy Brown , in his work Indian paintings has described the prehistoric cave paintng as the starting phase of painting in India. Dr GR Hunter brought the painted rock shelter of Panchmani to the notice of world. He wrote the book The Rock Paintings of Mahadeva Hills on the cave painting. In year 1958, Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar discovered the paintings of Bhimbetka which belong to the prehistoric age. He also discovered the murals near Chitroha, Allahabad. In year 1995, 14 painted murals were discovered from

INDIAN ART : PAINTING                     Painting is one of the oldest arts of India. It is the only             art in India which has its roots in the pre-historic times.           Painting evolved with time and reached its zenith during         the era of Ajanta cave paintings. After the arrival of Arbs         and Turks, new elements were added to it and it was               further refined during Mughal era. In modern era in the           Indian painting incorporated the European elements               and reached new heights.       Characteristics of Indian paintings : Indian art is                     highly influenced with religion, philosophy and faith.                Apart from religion, the folklores are an important theme        of Indian paintings. The elements of joy, inspiration and          happiness are in abundance in Indian painting. Indian            paintings are based on drawing outlines, while                        western  paintings are b