10 The Changing World of Visual Arts · THE CHANGING WORLD OF VISUAL ARTS 125 This image of British rule bringing modern civilisation to India is powerfully emphasised in the numerous

THE CHANGING WORLD OF VISUAL ARTS 123

When you look at a work of art – a painting, sculpture,etc. – it may not be obvious that like most other things,art too is influenced by the world around it. You maynot realise that what you see also shapes your ownideas. In this chapter we will be looking at the changesin the world of visual arts during the colonial period,and how these changes are linked to the wider historyof colonialism and nationalism.

Colonial rule introduced several new art forms,styles, materials and techniques which were creativelyadapted by Indian artists for local patrons andmarkets, in both elite and popular circles. You willfind that many of the visual forms that you take forgranted today – say, a grand public building withdomes, columns and arches; a scenic landscape, therealistic human image in a portrait, or in popularicons of gods and goddesses; a mechanically printedand mass-produced picture – had their origins in theperiod we will discuss in this chapter.

To understand this history we will focus primarilyon the changes in one sphere – painting and print making.

New Forms of Imperial ArtFrom the eighteenth century a stream of European artistscame to India along with the British traders and rulers.The artists brought with them new styles and newconventions of painting. They began producing pictureswhich became widely popular in Europe and helpedshape Western perceptions of India.

The Changing World of Visual Arts

Convention – Anaccepted norm or style

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Fig. 1 – Damayanthi, paintedby Raja Ravi Verma© N

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OUR PASTS – III124

European artists brought with them the idea ofrealism. This was a belief that artists had to observecarefully and depict faithfully what the eye saw. Whatthe artist produced was expected to look real and lifelike.European artists also brought with them the techniqueof oil painting – a technique with which Indian artistswere not very familiar. Oil painting enabled artists toproduce images that looked real.

Not all European artists in India were inspired bythe same things. The subjects they painted were varied,but invariably they seemed to emphasise the superiorityof Britain – its culture, its people, its power. Let uslook at a few major trends within imperial art.

Looking for the picturesqueOne popular imperial tradition was that of picturesquelandscape painting. What was the picturesque? Thisstyle of painting depicted India as a quaint land, to beexplored by travelling British artists; its landscape wasrugged and wild, seemingly untamed by human hands.Thomas Daniell and his nephew William Daniell werethe most famous of the artists who painted within thistradition. They came to India in 1785 and stayed forseven years, journeying from Calcutta to northern andsouthern India. They produced some of the mostevocative picturesque landscapes of Britain’s newlyconquered territories in India. Their large oil paintingson canvas were regularly exhibited to select audiences

in Britain, and their albumsof engravings were eagerlybought up by a British publickeen to know about Britain’sempire.

Fig. 2 is a typical exampleof a picturesque landscapepainted by the Daniells.Notice the ruins of localbuildings that were oncegrand. The buildings arereminders of past glory,remains of an ancientcivilisation that was nowin ruins. It was as if thisdecaying civilisation wouldchange and modernise onlythrough British governance.

Engraving – A pictureprinted onto paper froma piece of wood or metalinto which the design ordrawing has been cut

Fig. 2 – Ruins on the banks of theGanges at Ghazipur, painted byThomas Daniell (oil, 1791) © N

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This image of British rule bringing moderncivilisation to India is powerfully emphasised in thenumerous pictures of late-eighteenth-century Calcuttadrawn by the Daniells. In these drawings you can seethe making of a new Calcutta, with wide avenues,majestic European-style buildings, and new modes oftransport (Fig. 3). There is life and activity on the roads,there is drama and excitement. Look carefully atFigs. 2 and 3. See how the Daniells contrast the imageof traditional India with that of life under British rule.Fig. 2 seeks to represent the traditional life of India aspre-modern, changeless and motionless, typified byfaqirs, cows, and boats sailing on the river. Fig. 3 showsthe modernising influence of British rule, byemphasising a picture of dramatic change.

Portraits of authorityAnother tradition of art that became immensely popularin colonial India was portrait painting. The rich andthe powerful, both British and Indian, wanted to seethemselves on canvas. Unlike the existing Indiantradition of painting portraits in miniature, colonialportraits were life-size images that looked lifelike andreal. The size of the paintings itself projected theimportance of the patrons who commissioned theseportraits. This new style of portraiture also served asan ideal means of displaying the lavish lifestyles, wealthand status that the empire generated.

Fig. 3 – Clive street in Calcutta,drawn by Thomas and WilliamDaniell, 1786

Portrait – A picture of aperson in which the faceand its expression isprominent

Portraiture – The art ofmaking portraits

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As portrait painting became popular, many Europeanportrait painters came to India in search of profitablecommissions. One of the most famous of the visitingEuropean painters was Johann Zoffany. He was born inGermany, migrated to England and came to India in themid-1780s for five years. Figs. 3 and 4 are two examplesof the portraits that Zoffany painted. Notice the way

figures of Indian servants andthe sprawling lawns of colonialmansions appear in suchportraits. See how the Indiansare shown as submissive, asinferior, as serving their whitemasters, while the Britishare shown as superior andimperious: they flaunt theirclothes, stand regally or sitarrogantly, and live a life ofluxury. Indians are never atthe centre of such paintings;they usually occupy a shadowybackground.

Commission – To formallychoose someone to do aspecial piece of workusually against payment

Fig. 4 – Portrait of Governor-General Hastings with his wife intheir Belvedere estate, painted byJohann Zoffany (oil, 1784)

Notice the grand colonialmansion in the background.

Fig. 5 – The Aurial andDashwood Families of Calcutta,painted by Johann Zoffany(oil, 1784)

Thomas Dashwood was marriedto Charlotte Lousia Aurial. Hereyou see them entertaining theirfriends and relatives. Notice thevarious servants serving tea.

Activity

Look at Figs. 4 and 5.1. In what ways are the Indians depicted as inferior?2. Notice the clothes the British are wearing.

What do they convey to you?

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Many of the Indian nawabstoo began commissioningimposing oil portraits byEuropean painters. You haveseen how the British postedResidents in Indian courtsand began controlling theaffairs of the state, under-mining the power of the king.Some of these nawabs reactedagainst this interference;others accepted the politicaland cultural superiority ofthe British. They hoped tosocialise with the British, andadopt their styles and tastes.Muhammad Ali Khan wasone such nawab. After awar with the British in the1770s he became a dependantpensioner of the East IndiaCompany. But he nonethelesscommissioned two visitingEuropean artists, Tilly Kettleand George Willison, to painthis portraits, and giftedthese paintings to the Kingof England and the Directorsof the East India Company.The nawab had lost politicalpower, but the portraits allowed him to look at himselfas a royal figure. Look at the painting by Willison(Fig. 6). Notice the way the nawab poses, and how heasserts his majesty.

Painting historyThere was a third category of imperial art, called“history painting”. This tradition sought to dramatiseand recreate various episodes of British imperialhistory, and enjoyed great prestige and popularity duringthe late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

British victories in India served as rich material forhistory painters in Britain. These painters drew on first-hand sketches and accounts of travellers to depict forthe British public a favourable image of British actionsin India. These paintings once again celebrated theBritish: their power, their victories, their supremacy.One of the first of these history paintings was produced

Fig. 6 – Portrait of NawabMuhammad Ali Khan of Arcot,painted by George Willison(oil, 1775)

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by Francis Hayman in 1762 and placed on public displayin the Vauxhall Gardens in London (Fig. 7). The Britishhad just defeated Sirajuddaulah in the famous Battleof Plassey and installed Mir Jafar as the Nawab ofMurshidabad. It was a victory won through conspiracy,and the traitor Mir Jafar was awarded the title ofNawab. In the painting by Hayman this act of aggressionand conquest is not depicted. It shows Lord Clive beingwelcomed by Mir Jafar and his troops after the Battleof Plassey.

Fig. 7 – Lord Clive meetingMir Jafar, Nawab of Murshidabad,after the Battle of Plassey, paintedby Francis Hayman (oil, 1762)

Activity

Look carefully at Figs. 7 and 8.1. How is Clive portrayed in Fig. 7?2. What are the ways in which the artist has depicted

the victory of the British?3. Notice the position of the British flag (the Union

Jack) in Figs. 7 and 8. Why is it placed there?

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The celebration of British military triumph can beseen in the many paintings of the battle of Seringapatam(now Srirangapatnam). Tipu Sultan of Mysore, as youknow, was one of the most powerful enemies of theBritish. He was finally defeated in 1799 at the famousbattle of Seringapatam. Notice the way the battle sceneis painted in Fig. 8. The British troops are shownstorming the fort from all sides, cutting Tipu’s soldiersto pieces, climbing the walls, raising the British flagaloft on the ramparts of Tipu’s fort. It is a painting fullof action and energy. The painting dramatises the eventand glorifies the British triumph.

Imperial history paintings sought tocreate a public memory of imperialtriumphs. Victories had to be remembered,implanted in the memory of people, both inIndia and Britain. Only then could theBritish appear invincible and all-powerful.

Fig. 8 – The Storming ofSeringapatam, painted by RoberKerr Porter (panorama in oil, 1800)

Fig. 9 – The discovery of the bodyof Sultan Tipu by General SirDavid Baird, 4 May 1799, paintedby David Wilkie (oil, 1839)

Activity

Look at Fig. 9David Wilkie was commissioned byDavid Baird’s wife to paint thispicture. Why do you think shewanted such a picture painted?

Look at the way General Baird, who led theBritish army that stormed Tipu’s fort, is shown

standing triumphantly in the middle. Thelantern lights up Baird, making him visible tothe spectator. Tipu lies dead (left corner), hisbody hidden in semi-darkness. His forces are

defeated, his royal clothes torn and stripped off.The painting seems to announce: this is the fate

of those who dare to oppose the British.

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What Happened to the Court Artists?What happened to artists who earlier paintedminiatures? How did the painters at Indian courts reactto the new traditions of imperial art?

We can see different trends in different courts. InMysore, Tipu Sultan not only fought the British on thebattlefield but also resisted the cultural traditionsassociated with them. He continued to encouragelocal traditions, and had the walls of his palace atSeringapatam covered with mural paintings done bylocal artists. Fig. 10 shows you one of these. This paintingcelebrates the famous battle of Polilur of 1780 in whichTipu and Haidar Ali defeated the English troops.

Fig. 10 – Detail from a muralpainting commissioned by TipuSultan at the Dariya Daulat palaceat Seringapatam, commemoratingHaidar Ali’s victory over theEnglish army at the battle of Polilurof 1780

Mural – A wall painting

Activity

Compare Figs. 8 and 10.1. What similarities and differences do you see in the

themes of the paintings?2. If you were a nawab fighting the British, which

battle scenes would you ask the artists to paint –the ones you lost or the ones you won?

3. Do you think that the mural in Fig. 10 is realistic?

In the court of Murshidabad we see a different trend.Here, after defeating Sirajuddaulah the British hadsuccessfully installed their puppet Nawabs on thethrone, first Mir Zafar and then Mir Qasim. The court

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at Murshidabad encouraged local miniature artiststo absorb the tastes and artistic styles of the British.You can see this in Fig. 11. This is a picture of an Idprocession painted by a court painter in the lateeighteenth century. Notice how local miniature artistsat Murshidabad began adopting elements of Europeanrealism. They use perspective, which creates a senseof distance between objects that are near and thoseat a distance. They use light and shade to make thefigures look life like and real.

With the establishment of British power many ofthe local courts lost their influence and wealth. Theycould no longer support painters and pay them to paintfor the court. How could the artists earn a living? Manyof them turned to the British.

Perspective – The waythat objects appearsmaller when they arefurther away and theway parallel lines appearto meet each other at apoint in the distance

Fig. 11Nawab Mubarakuddaulah ofMurshidabad at an Id procession,a miniature copy by a local courtpainter of an oil painting by thevisiting British artist, G.Farrington(1799 -1800)

At the same time, British officials, who found the worldin the colonies different from that back home, wantedimages through which they could understand India,remember their life in India, and depict India to theWestern world. So we find local painters producing a vastnumber of images of local plants and animals, historicalbuildings and monuments, festivals and processions,trades and crafts, castes and communities. These pictures,eagerly collected by the East India Company officials,came to be known as Company paintings.

Not all artists, however, were court painters. Not allof them painted for the nawabs. Let us see what washappening outside the court.

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The New Popular Indian ArtIn the nineteenth century a new world of popular artdeveloped in many of the cities of India.

In Bengal, around the pilgrimage centre of the templeof Kalighat, local village scroll painters (called patuas)and potters (called kumors in eastern India and kumharsin north India) began developing a new style of art.They moved from the surrounding villages into Calcuttain the early nineteenth century. This was a time whenthe city was expanding as a commercial andadministrative centre. Colonial offices were coming up,new buildings and roads were being built, marketswere being established. The city appeared as a place ofopportunity where people could come to make a newliving. Village artists too came and settled in the cityin the hope of new patrons and new buyers of their art.

Before the nineteenth century, the village patuasand kumors had worked on mythological themes andproduced images of gods and goddesses. On shifting toKalighat, they continued to paint these religious images.Traditionally, the figures in scroll paintings lookedflat, not rounded. Now Kalighat painters began to useshading to give them a rounded form, to make the imageslook three-dimensional. Yet the images were not realisticand lifelike. In fact, what is specially to be noted inthese early Kalighat paintings is the use of a bold,deliberately non-realistic style, where the figuresemerge large and powerful, with a minimum of lines,detail and colours.

After the 1840s, we see a new trend within the Kalighatartists. Living in a society where values, tastes, social

In Company paintings, such as thisone, people are painted againstempty spaces. We get no idea of thesocial surroundings within whichthey lived or worked. The paintingstried to identify some of the visiblefeatures through which people andcommunities could be recognisedwith ease by people from foreignlands. Like the different types ofIndian plants, birds and animalsdepicted in Company paintings,the human figures are shown asmere specimens of different trades,castes and sects of a region.

Fig. 13 – Battle betweenHanuman and Jambuvan,Kalighat painting, mid-nineteenthcentury, Calcutta (watercolour onpaper)

Notice how the artists havemodernised traditional images.Hanuman is wearing footwearwhich became popular in thenineteenth century.

Fig. 12 – Paired couples representing different religious sects ofthe Tanjore region, Company painting from Tanjore (1830)

Scroll paintingPainting on a long rollof paper that could berolled up

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norms and customs were undergoing rapid changes,Kalighat artists responded to the world around, andproduced paintings on social and political themes.Many of the late-nineteenth-century Kalighat paintingsdepict social life under British rule. Often the artistsmocked at the changes they saw around, ridiculingthe new tastes of those who spoke in English andadopted Western habits, dressed like sahibs, smokedcigarettes, or sat on chairs. They made fun of thewesternised baboo, criticised the corrupt priests, andwarned against women moving out of their homes. Theyoften expressed the anger of common people againstthe rich, and the fear many people had about dramaticchanges of social norms.

Many of these Kalighat pictures were printed in largenumbers and sold in the market. Initially, the imageswere engraved in wooden blocks. The carved block wasinked, pressed against paper, and then the woodcutprints that were produced were coloured by hand. Inthis way, many copies could be produced from the sameblock. By the late-nineteenth century, mechanicalprinting presses were set up in different parts of India,which allowed prints to be produced in even largernumbers. These prints could therefore be sold cheap inthe market. Even the poor could buy them.

Popular prints were not painted only by the poorvillage Kalighat patuas. Often, middle-class Indianartists set up printing presses and produced printsfor a wide market. They were trained in British artschools in new methods of life study, oil paintingand print making. One of the most successful of thesepresses that were set upin late-nineteenth-centuryCalcutta was the CalcuttaArt Studio. It producedlifelike images of eminentBengali personalities as wellas mythological pictures. Butthese mythological pictureswere realistic. The figureswere located in picturesquelandscape settings, withmountains, lakes, rivers andforests. You must have seenmany popular calendarpictures of Hindu deities inshops and roadside stalls.The characteristic elements

Fig. 14 – Englishman on anelephant hunting a tiger,Kalighat painting, mid-nineteenth century, Calcutta(watercolour on paper)

This painting is a typicalexample of how patuas depictedEnglish life in India. In thecolonies Englishmen loved tohunt. They saw hunting as asport that could demonstratetheir courage and manliness.

Fig. 15 – Baboo on a chair,Kalighat painting, nineteenthcentury

In paintings like this you can seethe artist’s fear that the babooswill imitate the West and give upall that is valuable within thelocal culture. The baboo here isshown as a clownish figure,wearing shoes with high heelsand sitting on a chair withridiculously pointed legs.

Life study – Study ofhuman figures fromliving models who posefor the artists

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of these pictures came into being in the late nineteenthcentury.

These types of popular pictures were printed andcirculated in other parts of India too. With the spreadof nationalism, popular prints of the early twentiethcentury began carrying nationalist messages. In manyof them you see Bharat Mata appearing as a goddesscarrying the national flag, or nationalist heroessacrificing their head to the Mata, and gods andgoddesses slaughtering the British.

Fig. 16 – Mythological scene fromthe legend of Nala and Damayanti,produced by Calcutta Art Studio,1878-1880

Notice the contrast between thispicture and Fig. 15. Which one doyou think looks more realistic?

Fig. 17 – Kali, produced byCalcutta Art Studio, 1880s

This is an advertisement of anIndian brand of cigarette thatwas banned by the British in1905. You can see the heads ofBritish soldiers amongst thedemons killed by the goddess.Religious images were thus usedto express nationalist ideas andinspire people against British rule.

Fig. 18 – Bharat Mata, a popular print

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Photographing IndiaYou have seen how European painters created a variety of images of India. Such images werebeing produced by photographers as well.

By the mid-nineteenth century photographers from Europe began travelling to India, takingpictures, setting up studios, and establishing photographic societies to promote the artof photography. Some of them were portrait painters who began taking photographsof imperial officials, presenting them as figures of authority and power. Others travelled

around the country searching forruined buildings and picturesquelandscapes, very much like some ofthe painters we have discussed. Yetothers recorded moments of Britishmilitary triumph. There were alsothose who recorded the culturaldiversity of India in ways that triedto show how India was a primitivecountry.

Fig. 20 – Sati Chaura Ghat, Kanpur, photograph bySamuel Bourne, 1865

Samuel Bourne came to India in the early 1860sand set up one of the most famous photographicstudios in Calcutta, known as Bourne andShephard. Compare this photograph with Fig. 2.Notice how the painter and the photographer areboth fascinated by the image of ruins.

Fig. 19 – The Horse Regiment led byWilliam Hodson, which played animportant role in suppressing the1857 revolt, photograph byFelice Bearto, 1858

Notice the way the British officer isshown at the centre, standing in anassertive and authoritative way, whilehis soldiers gather around him.

Fig. 21 – A nationlist demonstration in aBombay street, photograph by Vikar

By the late nineteenth century Indianphotographers began taking pictures that often

offer us a different image of India. They recordedthe nationalist marches and meetings, as well

as the everyday life of the people.

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Fig. 22 – Victoria Terminus, Bombay

The railway station was builtbetween 1878 and 1887.

Fig. 23 – Central Post Office,Calcutta, built in the1860s

New buildings and new stylesWith British rule, architectural styles also changed.New styles were introduced as new cities werebuilt, new buildings came up.

Look at Fig. 22. The pointed arches in thebuildings and the elongated structures aretypical of a style known as Gothic. The newbuildings that came up in the mid-nineteenthcentury in Bombay, were mostly in this style.Now compare this building with that in Fig. 23.The rounded arches and the pillars that you seewere typical of another style that the British usedin Calcutta. It was borrowed from the Classicalstyle of Greece and Rome. The British wantedtheir buildings to express their power and glory,and their cultural achievements.

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The Search for a National ArtTowards the end of the nineteenth century, a strongerconnection was established between art and nationalism.Many painters now tried to develop a style that couldbe considered both modern and Indian.

What could be defined as a national style?

The art of Raja Ravi VarmaRaja Ravi Varma was one of the firstartists who tried to create a style thatwas both modern and national. RaviVarma belonged to the family of theMaharajas of Travancore in Kerala, andwas addressed as Raja. He mastered theWestern art of oil painting and realisticlife study, but painted themes from Indianmythology. He dramatised on canvas,scene after scene from the Ramayanaand the Mahabharata, drawing on thetheatrical performances of mythologicalstories that he witnessed during his tourof the Bombay Presidency. From the 1880s,Ravi Varma’s mythological paintingsbecame the rage among Indian princesand art collectors, who filled their palacegalleries with his works.

Responding to the huge popular appealof such paintings, Ravi Varma decided toset up a picture production team andprinting press on the outskirts of Bombay.Here colour prints of his religious paintingswere mass produced. Even the poor couldnow buy these cheap prints.

A different vision of national artIn Bengal, a new group of nationalist artists gatheredaround Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951), the nephewof Rabindranath Tagore. They rejected the art of RaviVarma as imitative and westernised, and declared thatsuch a style was unsuitable for depicting the nation’sancient myths and legends. They felt that a genuineIndian style of painting had to draw inspiration fromnon-Western art traditions, and try to capture thespiritual essence of the East. So they broke away fromthe convention of oil painting and the realistic style,and turned for inspiration to medieval Indian traditionsof miniature painting and the ancient art of mural

Fig. 24 – Krishna Sandhan, byRaja Ravi Varma

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Activity

Look at Fig.25 alongwith the images ofIndian miniatures yousaw in the History bookof Class VII. Can youidentify some of theelements of similaritybetween them? Lookfor differences too.

Fig. 25 – My Mother, painted byAbanindranath Tagore (watercolour)

Fig. 26 – The BanishedYaksha of Kalidas’s poemMeghaduta, painted byAbanindranath Tagore(watercolour, 1904)

Notice the mistybackground, the softcolours, and the absenceof any hard lines in thepainting. These arestylistic elements youwill often find in manyJapanese water colourlandscapes (see Fig. 28).

Fig. 27 – Jatugriha Daha(The Burning of the Houseof Lac during Pandava’sexile in the forest), paintedby Nandalal Bose(watercolour, 1912)

Nandalal Bose was astudent of AbanindranathTagore. Notice the lyricalflow of lines, theelongated limbs and thepostures of the figures.

Abanindranath andNandalal did not simplyfollow an earlier style.They modified it andmade it their own. Inthis painting you cansee how Nandalal usesshading to give a three-dimensional effect to thefigures. You will not findthis in Ajanta paintings.

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ELSEWHERE

painting in the Ajanta caves. They were also influenced by the artof Japanese artists who visited India at that time to develop anAsian art movement.

We can see a combination of these different pictorial elementsin some of the new “Indian-style” paintings of these years. Lookat Fig. 25. In this painting by Abanindranath Tagore we can seethe influence of Rajput miniatures. The influence of Japanesepaintings can be seen in Fig. 26, and the style of Ajanta isapparent in Fig. 27.

The effort to define what ought to be an authentic Indian style ofart continued. After the 1920s, a new generation of artists began tobreak away from the style popularised by Abanindranath Tagore.Some saw it as sentimental, others thought that spiritualism couldnot be seen as the central feature of Indian culture. They feltthat artists had to explore real life instead of illustrating ancientbooks, and look for inspiration from living folk art and tribaldesigns rather than ancient art forms. As the debates continued,new movements of art grew and styles of art changed.

Let’s recall1. Fill in the blanks:

(a) The art form which observed carefully and tried to captureexactly what the eye saw is called _________.

(b) The style of painting which showed Indian landscape asa quaint, unexplored land is called _________.

Fig. 28 Pine trees, painted by Hasegawa Tohaku,sixteenth century

Kakuzo and the movement for an Asian artIn 1904, Okakura Kakuzo published a book in Japan called The Ideals of the East. This bookis famous for its opening lines: “Asia is one.” Okakura argued that Asia had been humiliatedby the West and Asian nations had to collectively resist Western domination.

Okakura researched on Japanese art andemphasised the need to save traditionaltechniques of traditional Japanese art at a timethey were being replaced by Western-stylepainting. He tried to define what modern artcould be and how tradition could be retainedand modernised. He was the principal founderof the first Japanese art academy.

Okakura visited Santiniketan and had apowerful influence on Rabindranath Tagoreand Abanindranath Tagore.

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(c) Paintings which showed the social lives ofEuropeans in India are called _________.

(d) Paintings which depicted scenes from Britishimperial history and their victories are called_________.

2. Point out which of the following were brought in withBritish art:

(a) oil painting (b) miniatures (c) life-size portraitpainting (d) use of perspective (e) mural art

3. Describe in your own words one painting fromthis chapter which suggests that the British weremore powerful than Indians. How does the artistdepict this?

4. Why did the scroll painters and potters come toKalighat? Why did they begin to paint new themes?

5. Why can we think of Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings asnational?

Let’s discuss6. In what way did the British history paintings in India

reflect the attitudes of imperial conquerors?

7. Why do you think some artists wanted to develop anational style of art?

8. Why did some artists produce cheap popular prints?What influence would such prints have had on theminds of people who looked at them?

Let’s do9. Look at any tradition of art in your locality. Find

out how it has changed in the last 50 years. Youmay check who supports the artists, and who looksat their art. Remember to examine the changes instyles and themes.

Let’s imagineImagine you are apainter living in theearly-twentieth-century India tryingto develop a “national”style of painting. Whatelements discussed inthis chapter will formpart of that style?Explain your choice.

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10 The Changing World of Visual Arts · THE CHANGING WORLD OF VISUAL ARTS 125 This image of British rule bringing modern civilisation to India is powerfully emphasised in the numerous