Indian Folk Art | Folk Art |

Indian Folk Art Paintings

India had always been known as the land that portrayed cultural and traditional vibrancy through its conventional arts and crafts. The 35 states and union territories sprawled across the country have their own distinct cultural and traditional identities, and are displayed through various forms of art prevalent there. Every region in India has its own style and pattern of art, which is known as folk art. The folk and tribal arts of India are very ethnic and simple, and yet colorful and vibrant enough to speak volumes about the country’s rich heritage.

Folk art in India apparently has a great potential in the international market because of its traditional aesthetic sensibility and authenticity. The rural folk paintings of India bear distinctive colorful designs, which are treated with religious and mystical motifs. Folk art expresses cultural identity by conveying shared community values and aesthetics. It encompasses a range of utilitarian and decorative media, including cloth, wood, paper, clay, metal and other items which are quite popular among foreign tourists because of their ethnic and traditional beauty.

Some of the most famous folk paintings of India are the Madhubani paintings of Bihar, Patachitra paintings from the state of Odisha, Phad Paintings of Rajasthan, Kalamkari of Andhra Pradesh, Pichhvai Paintings of Rajasthan, Warli Paintings of Maharashtra, Nirmal paintings of Andhra Pradesh, Aipan of Uttarakhand, Pithoro paintings of Gujarat, Gond and Mandana Paintings of Madhya Pradesh, Kalighat paintings of Calcuta and many more forms.

Narrative paintings tell stories, either as one episode or single moment in a tale, or as a sequence of events unfolding through time. The retelling of stories through narrative painting can be seen throughout India in various forms. This exhibition focuses on several unique folk art forms that tell the stories of deities from the great epics, local regional heroes, and contemporary issues important to villagers such as HIV prevention.

Traditionally, scroll painters and narrative bards wandered from village to village singing their own compositions while unwinding their scroll paintings or opening their story boxes. Examples of this type of story telling painting to be exhibited include the scrolls of the Patua from West Bengal and the Bhopa of Rajasthan, and the small portable wooden temples of the Khavdia Bhat, also from Rajasthan. In addition, the exhibition will highlight narrative folk paintings from the states of Odisha, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.

Some of these tribal folk paintings are discussed below.

Madhubani paintings of Bihar

Perhaps one of the best known genre of Indian folk paintings are the Mithila (also called Madhubani) paintings from the Mithila region of Bihar state. The Madhubani in literal translation means ‘Forest of Honey’ (Madhu-honey, Bans-forest or woods).These paintings are basically religious in nature. The paintings are done by women predominantly at home, in anointed areas like the prayer room. Hindu mythology is the main theme in Madhubani Painting. It is an Indian living folk art inspired from mythological epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana. It is divine and prayful expression of unconditional surrender and thankfulness to the God. The contemporary art of Mithila painting was born in the early 1960’s, following the terrible Bihar famine. The women of Mithila were encouraged to apply their painting skills to paper as a means of supplementing their meager incomes. Once applied to a portable and thus more visible medium, the skill of Mithila women was quickly recognized. The work was enthusiastically bought by tourists and folk art collectors alike.

Madhubani, or Mithila painting, is a style of Indian painting practiced in the Mithila region of Bihar state, India. Madhubani paintings are characterized by geometric patterns and use twodimensional imagery, often depicting scenes from Hindu epics. The paintings commonly feature natural objects including the sun, moon and sacred plants. The picture space is entirely filled with designs of flowers, birds, animals and geometric shapes. The paint is made from a powdered rice paste and colored with natural dyes and pigments. Painters use fingers, twigs, brushes, nib pens and matchsticks to create their images. Madhubani painting has been traditionally practiced by the women of the Brahman, Dusadh and Kayastha communities. The paints were applied to freshly plastered mud walls and floors of huts for weddings and festivals. Now the art is also painted on cloth, handmade paper and canvas. During the severe drought in Bihar in 1966, female artists were encouraged to paint on paper by the All India Handicrafts Board so that their work could be marketed and sold. Since then the work has received international renown.

Warli Paintings of Maharashtra

Warli are principally found in “Thane” district in the state of Maharashtra. They are also scattered to very few number in parts of Nashik and greater Bombay. Much has been written about how the tribe got the name warlis. The word warli comes from ‘varal’, a small patch of cultivated land that means an uplander. According to Ayush (2007) Warli art roots may be traced to as early as the century AD. Research suggests that the tribals are the propagators of a tradition which originated sometime in the Neolithic period between 2,500 BC and 3,000 BC. Their extremely rudimentary wall paintings use a very basic graphic vocabulary: a circle, a triangle and a square come from their observation of nature; the circle representing the sun and moon, the triangle derived from mountains and pointed trees. Only the square seems to obey a different logic and seems to be a human invention, indicating a sacred enclosure or a piece of land. Warli art is a beautiful folk art of Maharashtra, traditionally created by the tribal women of the Tribes such as Warli, Malkhar koli, Kathodi, Kokana, Dhodi tribes found on the northern outskirts of Mumbai, in Western India. Tribal people express themselves in vivid styles through paintings which they execute on the walls of their house. Warli paintings were mainly done by the women folk. The paintings are beautifully executed and resemble pre-historic cave paintings in execution and usually depict scenes of human figures engaged in activities like hunting, dancing, sowing and harvesting.

Aipan of Uttarakhand

‘Aepan’ or Aipan or Alpana is an art which has a special place in all Kumaoni homes. The word “Aepan’ is a derivative of ‘Arpan’. A commonly used word for it is “Likhai” (writing), although it is a pattern made with the fingers. Aepan are used as ritual designs for Pujas, festivals and ceremonies connected with birth, janeu (the sacred thread ceremony), marriage and death.In Aipan the walls, papers and pieces of cloth are decorated by the drawing of various geometric and other figures belonging to gods, goddesses and objects of nature. Pichhauras or dupattas are also decorated in this manner. At the time of Harela there is a tradition of making clay idols (Dikaras). The raw material used is simple ochre (Geru) colour and rice paste. It is mostly women who paint the designs on the floors and walls of their homes using the last three fingers of the right hand. Once the ochre base is ready the artist draws the pattern free hand. Chowkies are made with mango wood and painted with special designs for each occasion. Pattas & Thapas are made directly on the walls or on paper and cloth.

Patachitra Painting of Orissa

Originated from the temple of Jagannath at Puri in the 12th century; Patachitra painting is considered as one of the oldest and most popular and important form of Oriya paintings. The name Pattachitra has evolved from the Sanskrit words patta, meaning canvas, and chitra, meaning picture. Pattachitra is thus a painting done on canvas, and is manifested by rich colourful application, creative motifs and designs, and portrayal of simple themes, mostly mythological in depiction. Some of the popular themes represented through this art form are Thia Badhia – depiction of the temple of Jagannath; Krishna Lila – enactment of Jagannath as Lord Krishna displaying his powers as a child etc. The creation of the Pattachitra paintings is a disciplined art form, and the chitrakars maintain rigidity in their use of colours and patterns, restricting the colours to a single tone.Preparing the paints is perhaps the most important part of the creation of Pattachitra, engaging the craftsmanship of the chitrakars in using naturally available raw materials to bring about indigenous paints.

Pattachitra is a folk art from Odisha, formerly known as Orissa, a state on the Bay of Bengal, on the eastern coast of India.These paintings are based on Hindu stories, especially episodes about Vishnu and his incarnations, and the local deity Jaganath. Pattachitra have been painted for more than a thousand years. The painters are known as chitrakar. In the 16th century, with the emergence of the bhakti movement, the paintings of Radha and Krishna (an incarnation of Vishnu) were painted in vibrant shades of orange,red and yellow. Typical scenes and figures include Krishna, Krishna’s adoring Gopis (milk maids), elephants, trees and other creatures. The painting of pattachitra involves the entire family and takes place in the home. The master painter, an elder or gifted male family member, draws the initial lines and gives the final finishing. The women and younger men ofthe family prepare the glue and canvas, fill in the colors and give the final lacquer coating. The canvas is made of strips of cotton cloth, and the colors are derived from vegetable, earth and mineral pigments.

Phad Paintings of Rajasthan

Phad painting or Phad is a style religious scroll painting and folk painting, practiced in Rajasthan state of India. This style of painting is traditionally done on a long piece of cloth or canvas, known as phad. The narratives of the folk deities of Rajasthan, mostly of Pabuji and Devnarayan are depicted on the phads. The Bhopas, the priest-singers traditionally carry the painted phads along with them and use these as the mobile temples of the folk deities. The phads of Pabuji are normally about 15 feet in length, while the phads of Devnarayan are normally about 30 feet long. Traditionally the phads are painted with vegetable colors.

Kalamkari of Andhra Pradesh

Kalamkari or Qalamkari is a type of hand-painted or block-printed cotton textile, produced in parts of India. The word is derived from the Persian words kalam (pen) and kari (craftmanship), meaning drawing with a pen. The craft made at Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, evolved with patronage of The Mughals and the Golconda sultanat. There are two distinctive styles of kalamkari art in India – one, the ‘Srikalahasti’ style and the other, the Machalipatnam style of art. The Srikalahasti style of Kalamkari, wherein the “kalam” or pen is used for free hand drawing of the subject, and filling in the colours is entirely hand worked. This style flowered around temples and their patronage, and so had an almost religious identity – scrolls, temple hangings, chariot banners and the like depicted deities and scenes taken from great epics – Ramayana. Mahabarata, Puranas and mythological classics. Only natural dyes are used in Kalamkari, and involves seventeen painstaking steps.

Kalamkari are hand-painted or blockprinted cotton textiles, produced in parts of India and in Iran. The word is derived from the Persian words for “pen” (ghalam) and “craftsmanship” (kari). In India, physical evidence of resist painting on cloth dates back to the 8th century. The exhibited kalamkari are from the holy city of Srikalahasti in the state of Andhra Pradesh in Southern India. This style developed around temples and is mostly involved with Hindu religious themes. The kalamkari can be seen in scrolls, temple hangings, and chariot banners, depicting narrative scenes from the Ramayana, Mahabarata and Puranas. Kamaladevi Chattopadhayay popularized the art as the first chairperson of the All India Handicrafts Board in the 1960s. The Srikalahasti style of kalamkari is entirely hand-worked and uses natural dyes made from plants and minerals. The design is first outlined in charcoal with a sharpened bamboo point. The dyes are then individually painted, often with alum as a fixative.After each color application, the cloth is washed in buffalo milk to affix the color and prevent spreading.A completed kalamkari may be washed 20 times

Gond Paintings of Madhya Pradesh

Gond paintings are the living expressions of the village people of Gond tribals of district Mandla in Madhya Pradesh, These paintings are deeply linked with their day to day lives The paintings are made by placing dots over the dots in upward, downward and sideways to create final pictures. The theme of paintings is drawn from folktales and Gond mythology. They are not mere decorations but also instant expressions of their religious sentiments and devotions. The tribal folk art gond paintings, based on local Indian festivals like Karwa Chauth, Deepawali, Ahoi Ashtami, Nag Panchmi, Sanjhi etc. are done by women using simple homemade colors. Horses, elephants, tigers, birds, gods, men and objects of daily life are painted in bright and multicolored hues.

Mandana Paintings of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan

The art of creating designs on the floor during the festive occasion is the tradition of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and the art is known as Mandana paintings. It consists of geometrical designs originating from eastern Rajasthan, particularly in Bundi and Jhalawar areas. In this the ground is prepared with cow dung mixed with rati, a local clay and red ochre. Lime and chalk powder is used for making the motifs. The architectural motifs in mandama art are made by first plotting the points. A set of three points are plotted to make equilateral triangle. There are smaller motifs used in the paintings.

Saora Paintings of Orissa

Saora is the name of a tribal community inhabiting the hilly area of the koraput, Gunpur, Ganjam and Gajapati districts of south Orissa. The paintings of the saora community are linked to the healing process for disease, safe childbirth and other life events. The Sun, moon, icons of the tutelary spirits, and ghosts, form the contents of the paintings. Contemporary motifs such as bicycles, motor car and airplanes are also used. These paintings are done on wall surfaces smeared with red ochre and rice paste. Yellow, ultramarine blue and black are also used at times to enhance the visual effect. No adhesive is added to fix the colors on the wall. Palm twigs are used as brushes for painting, the end of the stick being beaten by the painter to make it fibrous.

Pithoro paintings of Gujarat

Pithora is a highly ritualistic painting done on the walls by several tribes such as the Rathwas and Bhilalas who live in the central Gujarat, in a village of Vadodara called Tejgadh. The Pithora is a folk art form originating from an ancient ritualistic tradition of mural paintings initiated within tribal beliefs and customs. The Rathwa, Bhil and Nayak adivasi communities revere this art form though it is always members of the Rathwa community who are the traditional painters and storytellers as Pithora Dev is their principal deity presiding over every aspect of their existence. These paintings have significance in their lives and executing the Pithora paintings in their homes brings peace, prosperity and happiness. What is even more interesting is that there is never an attempt to imitate nature. A horse or a bull, which might be a vision of a God, impresses him with only one central quality. This central quality is worked upon and given a form.

Pichhvai Paintings of Rajasthan

Pichwai painting is an art form that has its roots in Rajasthan and more precisely in Nathwara. Pichwai means ‘at the back’ so these paintings are basically used as decorative curtains/ backdrop in Shrinathji temples and Krishna temples in Rajasthan. These cloth hangings are considered very sacred and devotees offer these cloth hangings in temples and take them back home as souvenir as well. This painting are known to have more details, are more polished and pure than Phad paintings that are other form of paintings in Rajasthan but is very similar to Pichvai.

Nirmal paintings of Andhra Pradesh

Nirmal Paintings are found in the Nirmal town which lies in Adilabad District of AP, the Nirmal Art is acknowledged all across the state. The community of craftsmen “Nakash” lives here. They are engaged in Nirmal arts, in which pictures from the legendary Hindu epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata are painted. These craftsmen utilize indigenous colors that are made from herbs, gums, and minerals. Now days the gold found in these paintings is extracted from herbal juices.

India is marked by its rich traditional heritage of Tribal/Folk Arts and Culture. Since the days of remote past, the diversified art and cultural forms generated by the tribal and rural people of India, have continued to evince their creative magnificence. The folk paintings have rich heritage. Without folk paintings, there is no identity of culture in human life as well as occasion will be incomplete. Folk paintings give aesthetical feelings and remind us about the native life through their colorful line drawings. Further commercialization of these tribal paintings creates a new source of non-agricultural income as these have achieved eminence in the national and international art market. Due to the growing demands of the crafts internationally, different organizations encourage the artists to produce their traditional paintings on handmade paper for commercial sale. Office of Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) Ministry of Textile. Government of India and other agencies are also working and supporting the genuine craft artists directly by arranging various exhibitions, skill oriented trainings, organizing and inviting artists to market events and providing incentives and awards to artists for their work.

Kavad

The kavad is a small mobile wooden temple, made in several sizes with several doors. It is constructed and painted in the village Basi, known for its wood craftsmen (called Kheradi). The Rajasthani Kavadia Bhat, the professional performers of the kavad, travel from village to village to perform for their patrons.As each door of the kavad is opened, a new painted scene from Hindu epics and stories is revealed and then accompanied by a rhythmic narration about the deities painted on them. When the narration is completed with the opening of the last door, the deities/heroes Ram, Lakshman and Sita are displayed. Offerings of coins by the onlookers are placed at the bottom of this hand-carried temple.

Patua and Pat

The Patua from West Bengal are a traditional painting community referred to as chitrakar. Since at least the 13th century they have created colorful scrolls and narrated the painted stories through original songs.The Patua are a unique sub-caste and their traditional occupation is the painting and modeling of Hindu deities. Although many of them are Muslim, they paint scrolls that often narrate Hindu stories. Scholars suggest that they are of tribal origin from the Midnapore region in West Bengal and over time were Islamized. For generations, these scroll painters have gone from village to village with their pat (scrolls), singing stories while unrolling their narrative scrolls, in return for money or food. The pat are made of sheets of paper (of equal or different sizes) which are sewn together and painted with either vegetable and mineral paints or synthetic poster paints. In addition to painting scrolls depicting Hindu epics, the Patua also paint scrolls depicting Muslim stories and local heroes. They paint about relevant contemporary issues as well, such as human trafficking, HIV prevention, and Osama Bin Laden’s escape from Bora Bora.

Bhopa and Phad

Phad, or par, a 400-year old picture story-telling tradition from the desert state of Rajasthan, illustrates a panoply of characters and scenes from medieval Rajasthan. Phad are scrolls painted on cloth (approximately 15’ x 5’) and covered with miniature scenes. The cloth is first covered with a paste of flour and gum and then polished with a stone. An outline of the painting is done in a light yellow, and then filled in one color after the other, mixing the colors with gum and water.Although the hero Pabuji is most often depicted, Devnarayan, an incarnation of Vishnu, is also painted. The story teller, called a Bhopa, is in a sense an itinerant priest.A hereditary position, the Bhopa are of a low caste and the only individuals that perform the tradition. Using mime, song, dance, and pointing to episodes in the scroll, the Bhopa and his wife, called a Bhopi, will narrate throughout the night. Bhopa are invited by villagers to perform, commonly during times of misfortune. Bhopa commission the phad from professional painters who operate from towns in the Bhilwara district of Rajasthan.