THE CHANGING WORLD OF VISUAL ARTS

NEW FORMS OF IMPERIAL ART

From the 18th century a stream of European artists came to India

the artists brought with them new styles and new conventions of painting

They began producing pictures which became widely popular in Europe and helped shape Western perceptions of India

European artists brought with them the idea of realism

A belief that artists had to observe carefully and depict faithfully what the eye saw

expected to look real and lifelike

European artists brought oil painting

Images look real

European artists’ subjects were different

Mainly superiority of British - its culture, its people, its power

LOOKING FOR THE PICTURESQUE

One popular imperial tradition was that of picturesque landscape painting

This style depicted India as a quaint land,

Explored by British traveling artists

Its landscape was rugged and wild - untamed by human hands

Thomas Daniell and his nephew William Daniell were most famous artists among this tradition

They came to India in 1785 and stayed for seven years

Travelled rom Calcutta to Northern and Southern India

Produced some of the most evocative picturesque landscapes of British’s newly conquered territories in India

Their large oil paintings on canvas were regularly exhibited to select audiences in Britain - their albums of engravings

Ruins of local buildings that were once grand

The buildings are reminders of past glory, remains of an ancient civilization that was now in ruins

It was as if the decaying civilization would change and modernize only through British governance.

British brought modernization to India showed through paintings - Daniells

Clive street in Calcutta - the making of new Calcutta

Wide avenues, majestic European-style buildings and new modes of transport

There is life and activity on the roads, there is drama excitement.

One side traditional and one side new things

PORTRAITS OF AUTHORITY

Another tradition of art that became famous was - Portrait painting

The rich and powerful both British and Indian wanted to see themselves on canvas

Indian existing tradition of pinging portraits in Miniature

Colonial portraits were life-size images that looked lifelike and real

The size of the paintings itself projected the importance of the patrons who commissioned portraits

The new style of portraiture served as an ideal means of displaying the lavish lifestyles, wealth and status that the empire generated

As portrait painting became popular. many European portrait painters came to India in search of profitable commissions

One of the most famous was Johann Zoffany

He was born in Germany, migrated and come to India in the mid-1780s for five years

In his paintings British people were shown as superior

Indians as servants

Many of the Indian Nawabs too began commissioning imposing oil portraits by European painters

British posted residents in Indian courts and began controlling the affairs of the state

Some of the Nawabs reacted against this interference

Others adopted their style and tastes

Muhammad Ali Khan was one such nawab

After a war wth the British in the 1770s he became a defendant pensioner of the EIC

Tilly Kettle and George Willison portraits and gifted paintings to the king of England and the Directors of the EIC

The Nawab had lost political power, but the portraits allowed him to look at himself as a royal figure

PAINTING HISTORY

Third category of painting called History Paining

Dramatize and recreate various episode of British imperial history and enjoyed great prestige and popularity during the late 18th and early 19th centuries

British victories in India served as rich material for hoister painters in Britain

They drew on first hand sketched and accounts of travelers to depict for the British public a pourable image of British actions in India

These paintings once again celebrated the British : Power, victories, supremacy