Krishna and Radha with Milkmaids, Rajasthan, Kota

Krishna and Radha with Milkmaids, Rajasthan, Kota

 

Clouds

 

Border Designs

 

Source: Victoria and Albert Museum

Yogis, Saints

 

A Shaivite Sadhu and His Youthful Acolyte, Lucknow or Awadh

Sultan Ibrāhīm Ibn Adham visited by Angels, source Amir Mohtashemi

Yogini in meditation with rosary

A Yogini in Meditation, Impey Ragamala

A Yogi Worshipping Vishnu on Garuda, Victoria & Albert Museum

Trees

 

Company School Botanical Art

 These botanical paintings were produced by Indian artists working in a style called Company School (kampani kalam in Hindi), which was based on Indian miniature painting but often had European influences. Many of the paintings were commissioned by Europeans in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Shiva Shrines

Workshop and Exhibition of Miniatures by Ajay and Vinita Sharma

Master miniature painter Ajay Sharma and his wife Vinita will be having another show of their exquisite work at the Square Peg Studios, Marrackville, Sydney, opening Friday 1st Sept.
Not to be missed.

The exhibition will coincide with painting workshops taught by Ajay.

The Beautiful, Magical World of Rajput Art

William Dalrymple in The New York Review of Books:

‘Krishna and the Gopis on the Bank of the Yamuna River’; miniature painting from the ‘Tehri Garwhal’ Gita Govinda, circa 1775–1780.
Kronos Collections/Metropolitan Museum of Art

Writing in the early years of the twentieth century, not long before the Partition of India and Pakistan, at a time when Hindu and Muslim Indians were beginning to think of themselves as separate peoples, Coomaraswamy exaggerated the differences between Rajput and Mughal painting, choosing to ignore the many commonalities; but he did so in passages of beautiful and deeply seductive prose. Rajput painting had a unique ethos, he wrote in Rajput Painting: Being an Account of the Hindu Paintings of Rajasthan and the Panjab Himalayas, which was published in 1916:

Rajput art creates a magic world where all men are heroic, and women are all beautiful and passionate and shy, beasts both wild and tame are the friends of man, and trees and flowers are conscious of the footsteps of the Bridegroom as he passes by. This magic world is not unreal or fanciful, but a world of imagination and eternity, visible to all who do not refuse to see with the transfiguring eyes of love.

As late as the 1950s, masterpieces that would now sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars could be bought for a few rupees from the impoverished descendants of Rajput princes or their dynastic court painters. This was the period when William Archer succeeded in assembling thousands of pages of Rajput art for the Victoria and Albert Museum in London; while private collectors such as Jagdish Mittal were able to form extraordinary collections on remarkably low budgets. This golden age for collectors continued through the 1960s and early 1970s, as Indira Gandhi’s fiercely socialist policies stripped away the assets of princely families, leading many to sell their entire miniature collections, flooding the market and reducing prices even further.

read more

Ragamala Paintings from the Bibliotheque Nationale de France

Ragamala painting is a particular genre of Indian miniature painting, mainly from the 16th and 17th centuries. Ragamala means 'garland of ragas'. A raga is a particular mood, colour, season, time of day, or emotional state. A ragamala painting evokes one of these ragas in pictorial form.

There are six main 'parent' ragas, corresponding to the six Indian seasons: summer, monsoon, autumn, early winter, winter and spring.
Each of the male parent ragas has five 'wives' (ragini), and eight 'sons' (ragaputra) and 'daughters' (ragaputri), making a series, or garland, of eighty four.

The six main ragas are:

Bhairava raga - associated with winter, early morning, and the god Shiva.
Malkauns raga - autumn.
Hindol raga - spring.
Deepak (Dipaka) corresponds to the heat of summer.
Sri (Shree) raga - winter and sunset.
Megh raga - associated with the clouds of the rainy  monsoon season.

The concept of raga is also found in Indian classical music and poetry. Some ragamala paintings illustrate the story of a hero (nayaka) or heroine (nayika).

Here is a collection of beautiful Ragamala paintings from the collection of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France.

 Bhiaravi

 Gujari

 Hindol

 Malavasri

 Malkos

 Meghamalara

 Pancama

 Sri

 Todi

Varngali

Workshops with Ajay Sharma

Great news! The master miniature painter Ajay Sharma is coming to Sydney again to teach two five day workshops.

I thoroughly recommend the classes. The first workshop is now full but there is space in the second one. It will fill up quickly though.

Ajay will also be having an exhibition of his wonderful work. Don't miss it! Will advise date of show soon.

To book or to find out more: http://squarepegstudios.com.au/courses/indian-miniature-painting/

Ramayana in Canberra

Someone told me today that there has been an exhibition of Indian miniatures at the National Gallery of Australia, in Canberra. They are on loan from the National Museum in New Delhi.
Looks like I've missed this one, as it finishes tomorrow and I don't think I'll be able to make the long drive from Sydney to Canberra and back.
The theme of the exhibition is the Ramayana, the story of Lord Rama, one of the ten avatars of Shri Vishnu, the Preserver of existence. The epic narrative of the Ramayana is the inspiration for many series of Indian miniatures.

http://nga.gov.au/Rama/