Important Notice

Untitled

Watercolour on paper pasted on printed cloth
18.5 x 13.5 in
47 x 34.3 cm

Kalighat paintings or ‘patas’ were first created in Bengal in the mid 19th century by traditional scroll painters known as ‘patuas’ who had moved to Kolkata attracted by its prosperity as the capital of British Indian and by the newly established Calcutta School of Art there. To make a living, these artists began painting around the old Kali temple in the city’s southern Kalighat neighbourhood, and selling their quickly executed works to devotees and tourists visiting the shrine as souvenirs. Blending Indian subjects with newly learned Western techniques, these unique paintings with their characteristic bold, single-stroke outlines soon came to be classified as a distinct, urban school of painting in India. Kalighat paintings are known for their simple subjects, swift execution, vivid colours, lack of perspective, generously curved figures, and also their satirical undertones.

Kalighat paintings or ‘patas’ were first created in Bengal in the mid 19th century by traditional scroll painters known as ‘patuas’ who had moved to Kolkata attracted by its prosperity as the capital of British Indian and by the newly established Calcutta School of Art there. To make a living, these artists began painting around the old Kali temple in the city’s southern Kalighat neighbourhood, and selling their quickly executed works to devotees and tourists visiting the shrine as souvenirs. Blending Indian subjects with newly learned Western techniques, these unique paintings with their characteristic bold, single-stroke outlines soon came to be classified as a distinct, urban school of painting in India. Kalighat paintings are known for their simple subjects, swift execution, vivid colours, lack of perspective, generously curved figures, and also their satirical undertones.