Day 5

PATTACHITRA West Bengal Day 5, 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

Overall- Topics to be covered on Day 4 đ&#x;ž‚

Introduction to craft đ&#x;ž‚ đ&#x;ž‚ đ&#x;ž‚ đ&#x;ž‚ đ&#x;ž‚ đ&#x;ž‚

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Craft history Key stories Craft process Environment Traditional design principles used Contemporary design ideas and frameworks

Detailed craft study đ&#x;ž‚

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Deciphering the craft đ&#x;ž‚

Motifs, patterns, colour palette, scale & proportion

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Nature, architecture, animals & birds, humans, fillers

Studying key craft elements

Studying compositional layout đ&#x;ž‚

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Storyboarding format Design principles used

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

History Cloth based scroll painting accompanied by song, Patua Sangeet or Poter Gan Pattachitra (oral tradition), Jadu Patua (oral tradition) and Kalighat paintings follow the same style Pattachitra- a tribe that converted from Hinduism/Buddhism to Islam Speculation that around 11th-12th century, Sen dynasty favored orthodox Hinduism that drove lower castes to embrace other religions Two names, Hindu name with surname of Chitrakar and a Muslim name Religious practices are fluid Jadu Patua- by Santhals People living in forests Controlled and exploited by the zamindars Seat of the Naxal movement Jadu Patua means ‘magic painter’ who made paintings that were used as religious offerings

History Kalighat paintings Done by Pattachitra painters who moved to the city Political satire- the Bengali Babus and Bengal famine Extra reading https://www.livehistoryindia.com/sna pshort-histories/2017/07/14/theforgotten-santhal-revolt-of-1855 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sena_dy nasty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattachi tra https://sarmaya.in/guides/endlessscroll-the-genesis-of-bengalspattachitra-art/

Key stories Religious Local myths like Manasa and Chandi, Behula and Lakhindar Snake-Goddess and her miracles Benevolent but ill-tempered Goddess Tale of rivalry, can be extrapolated to the struggle between tribal leanings and mainstream religion Stories from Ramayana and Mahabharata Secular Stories from natural calamities Social messages like the evil of dowry system, rural elections (politically aware state), etc

Key stories

Kalighat paintings Religious- paint Goddess portraits for sale near the Kali temple Social- Satire around the Babu culture and other social evils of the early 19th century Extra reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manasa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behula https://sarmaya.in/guides/bengalpattachitra/

Craft Process Colours Vegetable dyes mixed with bel juice Application Animal hair brushes Canvas Layers of paper are stuck together with maida Backing is provided with an old saree

Craft Process

Technique Overall areas are segmented in panels Panel size is mostly based on the width of the paper to avoid overlaps Characters are sketched Colours are added Black outlines are provided White is used for highlighting various elements (used in the place of metallic colours, but lends a similar effect)

Environment Islamic by faith, artisans belong to the Patua community Have adopted Chitrakar surnames post the 1951 census

Usually have two names, both Hindu and Muslim Traditionally oral tradition, but with television and modern forms of communication prevalent, it is a mostly a visual tradition now Woman have made a recent foray in the craft Politically aware citizens, so use modern themes in their paintings

Traditional Design Principles Vertical format Not many rules, making the output both graphic and contemporary They improvise as they progress in a painting As per tradition, only meant to act as cues

Contemporary design ideas and frameworks

DETAILED CRAFT STUDY - Deciphering the craft Motifs, patterns, colour palette, characters - Studying key craft elements Nature, architecture, animals, birds, humans - Studying compositional layout Storyboarding format Design principles used

Color palette

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Bright colours are used White is used as an highlight

Characters •

The key element is the way the eyes are depicted • Front facing, rounded chins, no chin dips like in the Pattichitra, Orissa paintings • The characters are short and not voluptuous • Differentiation Man- Moustache, clothes, short hair Woman- saree, long hair or hair style Demon-Sharp teeth, open red mouth

Characters

Skin tones Common man- darker colours King and people of importance- yellow Gods and demons- red, blue, green

Characters

These are paintings by artist Jaimini Roy, who was educated in the Western style of art, but identified himself as a Patua

Characters- Santhal style

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Inspired by rudimentary Jadu Patua paintings Characters side facing, simple and elongated Always in groups

Clothes and jewellery

Additional details

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Use of white dots as highlights Lines used to depict the contours of the fabric

Additional details- shading style

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Darker inner line to show shading Shading in Kalighat paintings are interesting with exaggerated colours used for contours

Borders

Plain solid colour, floral, fishes, snakes or a simple pattern is used

Animals and birds

Wild ferocious animals have a red tongue like demons

Fishes are depicted in two halves, alternating colours on their bodies and fins

Fishes

Raavan capturing Sita in Pushpak Viman

The origin story of Santhal tribes (please note that we mentioned the tribal origin of Jagannath. It’s depicted here, though they have tribal names according to the artisan)

Nature- Foliage • •

Limited use of intricate patterns Scale of foliage is much larger than in other classical forms

Nature-water • •

Very simplistic depiction Free-hand wavy lines

Nature- other motifs and patterns

Architecture and urban life elements • • •

Traditionally, there wasn’t a lot of architecture in the paintings The proportion increased with contemporary paintings Depiction simplistic

APPLICATIONS How to apply your learnings to real-life projects Project : Pattachitra chapter, Craft book Other examples

Process: understanding the story

Layout and colour sampling

Finalizing colors and patterns

Details

Final composition

Examples- 9/11

Examples-Tsunami

Examples-Titanic movie

EXERCISE- DAY 5 Using a Panchatantra story*, compose a painting in Pattachitra, West Bengal style Requirement- Vertical format, 2 A4s minimum *you can choose to compose whole or part of the story