Day 4

PATTACHITRA Odisha Day 4, Dec 2020 The art of craft: Deciphering the design principles in Indian folk art CEPT University Winter school 2020 Course faculty: Nisha Vikram, Udit Parekh

Introduction Day 1, Dec 2020

INTRODUCTION TO CRAFT - Craft history - Key stories - Craft process - Environment - Traditional design principles used - Contemporary design ideas and framework

History Literal translation is ‘Painting on cloth’ Cult of Jagannath and associated temple customs Several origins exist (2 examples here) Tribal origin No exact date, narrated as folklore Many versions, but most famous is about the King Indradyumna He dreamt of an abode of Lord Vishnu in the forest He sent his aide Vidyapati to capture the overseer Visvavasu, the tribal leader The Lord disappeared from his abode and was found as a floating log used to make the three statues Another version claims that the log was the unburnt body of Krishna, who was inadvertently killed by the Savara Jara, the tribal leader

History Vedic origin Around 5th century BC Vaishnava sect- followers of Lord Vishnu and his avatars In every story, the transition from tribal to mainstream is evident Use Painted idols Translated to paintings- used in lieu of the idols when the idols are believed to be resting/recuperating Extra reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J agannath https://medium.com/discoverjagannatha/tale-of-a-tantric78e5eb64b80c

Key stories Anasarapatti- Painting of the triad of Lord Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra Krishna Lila- stories from the life of Krishna

Dasabatara patti- the ten avatars of Lord Vishnu Panchamukhi- Lord Ganesha as a five-headed deity

Craft Process- Pattachitra and Ganjappa Cards Colours Vegetable dyes mixed with tamarind seed powder (binder) Application Animal hair brushes Canvas Layers of cloth are stuck together with a mixture of tamarind seed paste and chalk The top layer is smoothened with a stone Technique Borders are earmarked Main character is sketched Background between border and main character is divided into smaller segments Details from broad to fine are done Lacquer is applied to seal the colours

Craft Process- Pattachitra and Ganjappa Cards

Craft Process- Tala Pattachitra Colours Vegetable dyes mixed with tamarind seed powder (binder) Soot from lamp mixed with oil Application Etching tool to carve out details Canvas Palm leaves are stuck together Sewn in the form of a scroll Technique The details are etched with a sharp tool Colour is then applied inside and wiped off from the surface The colour deposits itself in the crevices bringing out the design There are flaps created that show a deity outside and a provocative image inside

Etching with a sharp tool

Etched character of a woman

Lamp black for application

Applying over the surface

Face filled in with black

Level of detail

Environment

Artisans belong to the Chitrakar community In villages around the temple Now most of them settled in Raghurajpur Whole family is involved in the process, credit however goes to the male painter Highly inspired by the dance forms Gotipua and Odissi

Traditional Design Principles

Set of rules and restrictions Faces are in profile Borders inside are thinner, creating illusion of depth Flower border is mandatory Symmetrical & radial balance are inherent

Contemporary design ideas and frameworks

Print Ad campaign Video Ad campaign For Sulekha.com Shows a modern Arjuna nailing everything with his arrows, much like how the brand’s service

For Mercedes Benz Shows how Mercedez is a big company unit that works together to deliver a final product

Contemporary design ideas and frameworks The tales of COVID 19 by the chitrakar Apindra Swain The demon can only be defeated by wearing masks. So, the characters in the paintings have their mouths covered with masks

In the frame, a woman in a traditional attire dons face masks, she washes her hand in an artistically adorned wash basin

Contemporary design ideas and frameworks

DETAILED CRAFT STUDY - Deciphering the craft Process, motifs, patterns, colour palette, characters - Studying key craft elements Architecture, Nature, animals, birds, humans anatomy and facial expression - Studying compositional layout Storyboarding format Design principles used

Process of drawing and colouring Lines of different thicknesses and colours are used as brush thickness can vary The use of thick line and thin line is very interesting in their work

Their focused detailing of the drape and clothing are also very prominent The way they create negative space, and use of solid blacks brings balance to viewer’s eyes

Borders and side fillers The discipline of this art is the musthave floral borders.

Each border derives its colour scheme and form from the central theme.

The outermost border will usually have an intricate floral pattern and inner ones will be simpler and more geometric.

Borders Include lotus, lilies and other water plants are popular motifs, as are birds and snakes.

In between or small spaces are filled with repeating patterns or dots

Color palette All the colours are extracted from natural ingredients Use mainly six colours, namely, white, red (geru), yellow, blue, green and black to paint a Pattachitra The colours represent certain aspects of the Gods The characters are painted in colours that express their mood or rasa. For example, “Hasya” or laughter is portrayed in white, “Raudra” or furious in red, etc

Characters

Pattachitra tales revolved around main characters of Ramayan, Mahabharat, Panchatantra stories and Buddhist scriptures Thia Badhia - depiction of the temple of Jagannath; Krishna Lila enactment of Jagannath as Lord Krishna displaying his powers as a child; Dasabatara Patti - the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu; Panchamukhi - depiction of Lord Ganesh as a five-headed deity.

Characters

The ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu

Characters

Lord Krishna displaying his powers as a child

Panchamukhi - depiction of Lord Ganesh as a five-headed deity

Man Vs. Woman

In pattachitra, the anatomy of male and female are very realistic

Ornamentations and jewelry are similar to kalamkari but here they don’t have restriction in terms of colour fading as the technique is far simpler

Inspired by the local dance forms Gotipua and Odissi, the form of figures are also very graceful

Since humans are also depicted, focus on the textile and fashion is prominent here

Clothes and jewellery

Facial expressions Rounded faces, short and voluptuous bodies are common features Chitrakar generally draw side faced figures, only God figures are front faced The face is characterised by long beak-like noses, prominent chins and elongated eyes Features of each character are defined with clear dark lines which give a definite shape and appeal

Facial expressions

Architecture

In this craft they show the architecture element very detailed and realistic in nature

The relationship between people and architecture has been portrayed very well

Architecture

Architecture ● Sense of space is a very important aspect ● Interiors are prominent are open spaces are equally important ● Layering of the temple is also depicted ● Discussion- Imagine a setup of a ‘pol’ house and people doing their daily chores

Architecture

Not only the architecture but they depict the open spaces and environment also beautifully.

Here in examples the waterbody scene, govardhan parvat, scene where Krishna robs gopi’s clothes. environment is very theatrically shown and the depiction through elements like water, tree, stones etc.

Architecture- additional details

Architecture- additional details

Animals and birds

Animals and birds

Nava-gunjara, in which Vishnu or Krishna is shown as a composite creature of nine different animals

Animals and birds

Odisha map in the style of pattachitra

Odisha map in the style of pattachitra

Animals and birds

Animals and birds

Nature Flower and leaf motifs are the common styling elements used to give a more aesthetic appeal to the artwork.

In most of the paintings, the foliage is always in the background so that the focus stays on figures There are several styles of tree patterns in pattachitra. Assorted narrow branches with small leaves going all along is a very common pattern in tree.

Flowers are very rare in pattachitra.

Small white dots here and there on trees, otherwise it is more about different patterns of leaves

Pattachitra has elements like trees and clouds which are very similar to many paintings like miniature, pichwai, etc.

Nature- tree of life

Nature- mountains and waterbody

Nature- Rain and wind

Composition Narrative crafts, visual storytelling tradition No narrator, so there is an established sequence for the viewer to read the painting There are hierarchy in terms of scale that helps us to move our eyes in a certain direction Layout 1: Main figure at the centre surrounded by intricate floral borders and filler Layout 2: Main story is introduced in the centre, and the smaller stories are narrated around it

Apart from an usual rectangular format of the composition, chitrakar uses different pentagonal shapes, circles in different sizes, etc The sense of perspective is depicted by several layers of elevations.

Composition Hierarchy in composition In flat paintings like pattachitra, there is an unique way to show perspective in a manner of folded elevations Many layers are stacked on top of one another to form a view. Different activities in interiors are painted In this particular example, the layers are separated by a band of a contrast color which has intricate patterns

Examples Several shapes of windows to depict storyboards

Since the composition is heavy in information, the artisans deftly use negative space to cluster information Use of the solid colours vs intricate details balance the whole visual beautifully

Examples The main story is that of Krishna Leela.

This is made clear in panel 2, where the gopis surround him 1 Panels 1 & 3 are additional stories of his miracles You can see that panel 2 can stand on its own as a complete story

2

In terms of visual depiction, panel 2 is like a plan with Krishna in the middle and the gopis dancing around him Panels 1& 3 are clearly in elevation

Combining both is skilfully done by the artisans in most paintings

3

APPLICATIONS How to apply your learnings to real-life projects - Project 1: Orissa Convention Centre - Project 2: Pattachitra chapter, Craft book

Project 1: Lift lobby panel, Orissa Client brief

The project is a convention centre in Bhubaneswar. The idea was to celebrate the local crafts in a modern space.

Design idea A lift is a small space and so we decided to use very minimal colours Using white and black, we imagined one artwork as day and the other as night There was a metal bar in between that we had to consider, so our composition worked around that

Also, it was unlikely, due to the depth of the lift, that someone would view the artwork in its entirety. So, we had to create small compositions that fit into the larger scheme of things

Project 1: sketching design ideas

Project 1: sketching design ideas

Project 2: pattachitra chapter, craftbook

CLIENT BRIEF This project is focused on representing craft using illustrator’s narrative but keeping the feel and the techniques of the craft.

Process- drawing motifs and patterns

Start the process by drawing motifs and patterns from an actual paintings The motifs in the red rectangle are selected further for the composition

Process- layout options

As discussed previously, format of the paper plays vital role in pattachitra

Before jump onto final composition, planning its layout will help to visualise many aspects of the composition

Process- draw composition

Line drawing filled with motifs and patterns

Original pattachitra paintings are painted with natural colors In this final stage of coloring , it is an opportunity to explore with secondary colors that resemble traditional ones

Process- Inspiration from an actual scenario

Actual photograph of a market/chowpatty scene in satara,maharashtra

Process- Elements taken from the photo

Black lines indicate elements that the designer used from the photograph whereas red lines show elements that were added later on

Process- refining and adding details

The illustration was an outcome of a one day live sketch The sketch was not in the style of pattachitra. The final line drawing was created after several layers of drawing and taking elements from the craft

It is a tedious task to decide the type of motif and its position, and to decide on the balance between negative and positive spaces

The elements like vehicles, rickshaw standing near the thela, umbrella and the huge plastic that is covering the chowpatty gives out the urban life feeling Peacock at the rooftop, tree patterns and fillers, human figure style sort of retains the craft language

Borders are must Colors only filled in the solid patches Black patch with the moon suggest time

Minimal details filled in women’s attire

EXERCISE- DAY 4 Using any image of a daily life scene, compose a painting in Pattachitra, Odisha style Requirement: A4 size minimum, architectural elements, a human, an animal and nature are mandatory. Mix it up with contemporary elements