Important Notice

The Kalighat pat tradition emerged in Bengal in the latter half of the 18th century as a popular art form that thrived in the local bazaars and was created by the “semi-urban, semi-literate traditional artist and craftsperson… These mythological and social pictures catered to the semi-educated masses that thronged the suburbs of the city and the mofussil towns.” (Paula Sengupta quoted in Kishore Singh ed., “Anonymous (Kalighat... The Kalighat pat tradition emerged in Bengal in the latter half of the 18th century as a popular art form that thrived in the local bazaars and was created by the “semi-urban, semi-literate traditional artist and craftsperson… These mythological and social pictures catered to the semi-educated masses that thronged the suburbs of the city and the mofussil towns.” (Paula Sengupta quoted in Kishore Singh ed., “Anonymous (Kalighat Pat),” Masterpieces of Indian Modern Art, New Delhi: DAG, 2016, p. 40)

The tradition of patuas, or scroll painting, has been extant in Bengal for centuries. Each district in the state developed its own style of scroll painting. Among them, the Kalighat pat is considered to be the most famous since it “developed out of the rural Bengali folk tradition of scroll painting accompanied by vocal renditions of the illustrated narrative.” (Singh ed., p. 40) The Kalighat pat artists generally turned towards mythological tales and religious pictures that had been passed down over generations, either orally or in the form of manuscripts, for inspiration when it came to creating these works.

The appeal of a Kalighat pat lies in its simplicity even today. “In keeping with its folk lineage, the Kalighat pats displayed a distinctly linear style of rendition, bold stylisation of forms, and the use of bright, opaque colours despite the shift to water colours. The use of shading is possibly to reinforce the rhythmic nature of the outlines and the rotund contours of the human and animal figures rather than to suggest volume.” (Singh ed., p. 43)

This is particularly evident in the two works that make up the present lot. The smooth lines highlight the woman in both works while conveying the essence of the scene or characters depicted, rather than relying on how the eye perceives reality.

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