At Paramparik Karigar, an annual exhibition showcasing traditional crafts, you can meet the master practitioners of these centuries-old forms.
In its second year, Paramparik Karigar, an exhibition of traditional crafts, showcased 12 forms of Indian art, by 14 master craftsmen.
Dilip Kumar Maharana, a Pattachitra artist from Odisha, started learning this style of folk painting from his father at the age of 12. To create awareness among youngsters, Maharana conducts demonstrations in schools and colleges. This art had its origin 300 years ago, he says, when Pattachitra paintings were done only by men. The word patta means cloth, and chitra, picture. Pattachitra is thus the art of painting on primed cloth in the finest detail. Mythological themes are used.
“The process of making Pattachitra is quite arduous,” says Maharana. “The pattas are made from cotton, which women usually take five days to complete. Everything is naturally made, from the glue to the colours to the paintbrushes, which are made out of mouse hair.” Pattachitra paintings and can fetch a price between varying Rs 10,000 and Rs 1 lakh.
Anwar Chitrakar is a traditional Patua painter and singer from Paschimbanga. He has been practicing his art for 20 years. Patua is a thousand-year-old art form. It is designed to educate viewers at the same time as it entertains. “Our themes range from mythological to contemporary topics likes tsunami, wildlife conservation, dowry, female infanticide and HIV Aids,” says Chitrakar. These painters move door-to-door and keep unrolling the scroll as the story accompanying the pictures is sung along with it.
The size of the scroll paintings varies. They can be 4 ft long or 50 ft long; the average length is about 15 ft. The story on a scroll is divided vertically. Each compartment narrates a different episode of the story.
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When the demand for Patua paintings waned in the 1990s, Chitrakar says because of the rise of cable television and other kinds of entertainment, he almost gave up on his art. But in 1998 he took it up again. Since then he has earned accolades like the President’s Award, the West Bengal State Award and the Rabindra Bharti University Award for his innovations in Patua painting.
Each painting takes from one month to a whole year to complete, depending on its size. With the revival of interest in traditional crafts, this form of art has won renewed interest from buyers. NGOs, trade fairs and workshops help Patua artists to find buyers, who pay Rs 5,000-30,000 for a painting.
Mata ni Pachedi, or “behind the mother Goddess”, is an art form of the nomadic Vaghari community of Gujarat. Artist Sanjay Chitara, a State and National Award-winner, learnt the art from his father. The art form dates back 300 years to when the community was forbidden from entering the temples. So the Vagharis started making their own shrines depicting the Mother Goddess on a cloth in various iconic forms. She could be sitting on a throne, or mounted on an animal outlined with a black colour made from jaggery and iron.
Mata ni Pachedi paintings were traditionally used as temple hangings. Now they have been transformed into wall hangings and cushion, bed- and pillow covers. They are priced in a broad range from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000.
Miniature paintings are intricate illustrations of historical moments and places, literary works, portraits and landscapes. Mughal miniatures are the most famous, but the history of miniature paintings can be traced back to the 6th century CE, when they were first done by artists in what is now Iran.
This art form calls for meticulous work with delicate brushes of squirrel hair. They are done on ivory panels, wooden tablets, leather, marble, cloth and walls, as well as on paper. There are many schools of miniature painting — Kishengarh, Pahadi, Punjab, Kota, Bikaner and so on — each with its own distinct style.
Each painting takes three to five months to complete, and sometimes longer than a year. The price of each piece ranges from Rs 3,000 to Rs 3 lakh. This is not enough for artist Shakir Ali, who says disapprovingly that he feels a shift in taste towards more contemporary designs.
The exhibition ends today. See it at Coomaraswamy Hall, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mahatma Gandhi Road, 10.30 am-6.30 pm
