Dive into the rich history and evolving trends of Indian paintings, from traditional styles to innovative techniques in the contemporary art scene
The rich tradition of Indian paintings reflects a profound legacy of the country’s diverse culture, history, and artistic ingenuity. The intricate frescoes of Ajanta and Bagh, the vibrant colours of miniatures and the Madhubani paintings give a sense of delicacy and sublime visual pleasure. Janus Art Gallery being a gallery of Bengal finds pleasure in encouraging Indian Art practices by offering Indian paintings for sale. We appreciate the interest of the collectors who seek the opportunity to promote contemporary Indian paintings and young practitioners by providing Indian paintings for sale on our website. It’s been a long time since the inception of Indian art and its entry into the modern art market which includes blending the ancient styles with the contemporary expressions creating a bridge between traditional and innovative approaches. The artistic heritage of India is entwined in the religious ethos, cultural practices, and the rich legacy that is inherited from the historical past of our country.
The beauty of Indian paintings lies in the intricate tapestry that is woven into the traditional art practices like those of Mughal miniatures, the styles of Rajput gharanas, and the narratives of the Pahari to those of the Pattachitra narratives which reveal the richness of our culture. The narrative trend in Indian Art talks about the royals as well as the flora and fauna, folklore, and other delicate issues mixed with the essence of religious equality which took the art of India to a different level. Nowadays with the advent of modern technology, each field received momentum but in modern-day art practices, the bridge between the traditional and the folk forms like Warli and other motifs took the front stage of the global art market. In the present visual culture we come across motifs of Madhubani, Warli as well as Kalighat patas of Bengal not only as possession in the form of paintings but also in the daily life sequences in the form of prints on the daily wears and on other usable products. Now this is the time when we find ourselves in the juncture of a visual language where traditional and regional expressions found a place of acceptance among the commoners as well as aficionados. It is true that in this present era, the boundaries or constraints of achieving knowledge have been abolished thus paving a new path for young artistic minds to amalgamate and explore various trends with a modern approach. Our gallery like others takes initiative to encourage young artists by showcasing and offering contemporary Indian paintings for sale.
Being a gallery from Bengal we observe the modern tendencies in the young practitioners of Bengal who trained in both Western art patterns and know the art of India and Bengal as well as reflect the magnificence of their origin with a new approach. It is known to us all that when art finds an expression in different forms it becomes a unique language of the artist, however, critiques may find influences of previous art forms which is valid. Human minds beautifully project and reflect their understanding mixed with inherited knowledge. The artists from Bengal and other parts of India explore modern themes staying rooted or connected to Indian aesthetics. Jamini Roy being inspired by the pata tradition appropriated the stylized feature pata but his input was the prominent features by emphasizing the bold lines. Not only Jamini Roy but many artists especially those of the Bengal school revived the classical art with the modern technique with an attempt to look at the social scenario. It is through art that political and social propaganda gained popularity not only the case of Bengal but also of other states of India. In Bengal, the upsurge of the literary and artistic trends reflected the historical scenes that are marked with importance. The painters like Chittoprasad, Jainul Abedin, and Somnath Hore project a scenario where famine makes a permanent impression on the onlookers’ minds.
Bengal has a mixed bag of experiences where the darker side of the society also makes its appearance with sublimity where an artist has much to say for instance the canvases of Bikash Bhattacharya bring to our mind experiences which are fatal and surreal as well. The approach of surreal we may consider Western but if we study miniatures B.N. Goswami in one of his lectures describes a Rajput miniature where gopinis are seen to praise the lord but instead of the physical image artists have drawn heaps of flowers. Goswami on his 36th visit to the museum gallery realized that Lord Krishna was outlined by the flowers; here lies the beauty of the Indian aesthetics. The mysticism and the surrealism if we dig further into the Indian mythology the root of these aforementioned terms can be traced. The oriental symbolism was questioned in the West but in terms of imagination, the Indian artists were immense thinkers and had a philosophical understanding of our mythological texts to a greater level.
The collectors and aficionados of the global art market have a taste to appreciate Indian contemporary paintings, with digitized art platforms it became much easier both to buy and sell them through the gallery website. Thus in our Janus gallery website, we welcome all to go through our collection and join hands to encourage the young upcoming artists to carry on their art practices on a larger scale. The digitized platforms gave the global collectors the opportunity to explore and buy contemporary Indian paintings online. Indian art has an innate sense of beauty that captivates audiences from around the world. The rich sense of aesthetics and filtered colour palette of Indian art attracts many collectors worldwide. In the growing art practices the tendency to use mixed-media has gained prominence this evolution gives us an idea of the mental space of the artist. Living in a technically well-equipped society does not always fill us with satiety, a craving to express oneself always remains thus just like creating looking at a good work also gives immense pleasure to a thirsty mind. When we talk of art that gives a certain amount of pleasure and soothes our eyes as well as our minds and our senses, then works of Binod Behari Mukherjee, Indra Dugar, and Gopal Ghosh comes to our mind where landscape is not a mere representation of a particular space but it gains a totality.
In the past few years, a tendency to represent animal figures in huge canvasses was regarded as the epitome of beauty as well as modern art culture. Artists like Sunil Das from Bengal, and M.F. Hussain have given us exclusive examples of horse figures but their depictions were completely different. The beautiful representation was not new to the world of art, dating much later a Chinese master named Xu-bei-hong painted excellent figures of horses in ink. In art, we find a revival of subjects but the attempts to represent them are different. Therefore the beauty of Indian art basically in the art market of the present day is eclectic tastes of representation resulted through the matured understanding of the artists. Bengal was always known to lead for its intellectually responsive citizens who at times lead the political and social scenario which is reflected in our art and literature.