India is an extremely rich country in terms of art. One of the fascinating forms of Indian art is concept of wildlife paintings. This concept was given by the Ranthambore School of Art. There is an interesting story behind initiating of this noble venture. Ranthambore School of art had only one purpose at its inception and that was of saving the tigers of the Ranthambore Wildlife Sanctuary. The modus operandi was quite effective as the authorities focused upon recruiting students from neighboring villages and towns. Thereafter, these new students are made aware of dismal plight of fast reducing numbers of Indian tiger. The students are trained to be self-sufficient artists.

You will be surprised to see the effects of these paintings. The students of Ranthambore School of art managed to create awe-inspiring art works. The sketches created are mostly black and white life sized. The technique primarily used is watercolor. Looking at paintings, it seems like you are watching live tigers staring at you from close quarters. Such is the effect of these paintings. What works in favor of the students is the keen observational eye they have. That’s the trick behind aliveness of such paintings. The training methods employed on students is so effective that these artists become extremely skilled at painting the fearful creatures so beautifully.

Wildlife Paintings created by students of Ranthambore School of Art are vivid and strong in imagination. It also gives us a message about imminent extinction of tigers from our map. Having said that, if we soon don’t take any preventive steps to conserve the majestic tigers soon they will just appear in paintings. Wildlife paintings are not only aesthetic but also a strong message to the population about the need of protecting the tigers.

Born on March 23, 1980 in  Bhavnagar, Gujarat, Kruti holds a Masters in Fine Arts (Creative Painting), from the University of Baroda and a Bachelors in Fine Arts (Painting) from the same university. Kruti has participated in many exhibitions, the recent one being the 2009 ‘An Ode to Perfection’, Bank on Art Gallery, New Delhi, the 2008 ‘Intensity in Diversity’, Domus Art Gallery, New Delhi, 2008 ‘Labours of Soulmates: What Are You ?’, Creative Platforms, Bangalore, 2008 ‘Continum’, in support of Udayan Care at New Delhi and many more. Kruti has also received the (2006-07) National Level Scholarship from the Lalit Kala Akademi.

Kruti almost breaks the monotony of the habit of the common man to see everyday objects. She presents them in an all together different way that leaves the viewer awe struck. These various juxtapositions probe you to look at the painting for hours and find meaning, each ones own meaning to the image that is projected in front of you. This fusion of two very different objects that come together and mingle into one another gives a feeling as if there is some kind of conversation between the two. It seems as if each object is questioning each other’s identity and their existence. It is not humorous, but the sheer contrasting ideas that are put together seem to make the viewer laugh at its weirdness.  Mukherjee has painted a picture that speaks a thousand words and those words form a story that the viewer completes. Kruti has used bright colours which add to the liveliness of the objects in her painting. What do you have to say about them?

Indian art contains several gems within that did not get their due acclaim. Blame it on other prominent forms of art that were publicized in a better way but nevertheless if we try to find we will come across some true gems in the hinterland of India. One of the hidden and yet impressive forms of art is camel paintings. Surprisingly, camel paintings are in existence since ages. They have always been an integral part of desert cultures in places like Rajasthan. Even the far placed Ancient Samarqand has engraved camel paintings on its walls dating back to 4^th century A.D. known as the “ship of the desert”, camel has greatly influenced artistic imagination of the painters in several places. Camels have remained extremely crucial in transferring goods and people through deserts. Camels were primary subject of artists in Ta’ifa monarchies and Umayyad caliphate.

Archeologists have found several places where engravings of camel riders were performed during ancient era. Camels were associated with aristocratic power and pursuits. Rajasthani artists have always relished creating beautiful art works based on camel theme. If we go to Marwar region in the state of Rajasthan, we will find miniature camel paintings. Some of them also include legendary lovers like Dhola-Maru. Camel paintings offer you a mesmerizing world of desert landscapes. They successfully manage to evoke images of arid deserts.

Camels represent tolerance and sustenance and the art works capture those elements beautifully. Rajput Paintings are famous exponents of camel themes. Many Rajputi paintings depict outdoors specially lovers riding camels. Many war scenes are also wonderfully depicted in these paintings. The materials used in these paintings were mainly mineral dyes and vegetables. The primary colors were blue and yellow. 

The global meltdown affected all the industries and the art market was no avrse to it. Indian art market was considerably affected with the global economic recession that set in during mid 2008. Many said that the real artist in the industry will continue to exist and attain greater heights inspite of the recession. And this has been surely proved by the Indian art summit that recently happened in Delhi. The summit gathered an enormous response and this has surely boomed the Indian art industry.

All those who took part in the summit had an awe-inspiring experience. Commercially as well people did very well and had huge amount of sales. Indian art summit gives a base to the modern contemporary Indian art that is now catching attention on international grounds. The central objective of India Art Summit was to focus on education and raising awareness about art, which has been effectively done this time.   

About 17 galleries were put up from around the world including some of the most prominent international galleries from Europe, Asia and the United States.

The summit was organized by Asia Art Archive, Asia Society, Lalit Kala Academy, The Devi Foundation, and the British Council. The summit exhibited the most assorted range of modern and contemporary paintings, sculpture, and photography which included mix media, prints, drawings and video art by known and forthcoming artists.

The fair ensured that the contemporary art scene in India gains visibility. It also gave an insight into the richness and diversity of the art market to the visitors that came from across the world.

If we look in dictionary, the word theorem is defined as ‘an expression of relations in an equation or formula.’ So, why are we talking about this term in a site that is purely dedicated to the fascinating world of art? Well, answer lies in theorem paintings that we are going to talk about. During the 19th century, many important scientific inventions were witnessed. These magnificent innovations completely changed the way humans lived and will live their lives. But the innovations were not just restricted to science. The world of art also saw some interesting innovations and one of the gifts of that era was Theorem Painting. Unlike other paintings, theorem painting uses certain formula of execution where everything is planned in a definitive way. This form of painting was primarily for greenhorns who could take the art even without any training.

The legend goes that women were the biggest fans of theorem paintings during the 1800s. This form of art aimed at producing aesthetic art works for the personal usage of artists. Even non-professional artists could diligently pursue this art. The primary technique used in theorem painting is of stenciling. Two or more stencils are used in the painting in such a way that no two areas immediately next to each other can be placed on the same stencil.

Talking about stencils, it is basically a painting tool or template that is very important for artists in creating repetitive designs. Stencil material is used for making of these tools. One can use numbers of designs, varieties and combinations to create attractive and fashionable designs. Often these designs are pure works of beauty. However, theorem painting could never get its due because of suspicion on creative abilities of the artists.

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The favorite Hindu God known for his charismatic presence in homes is certainly a welcome sign in most Indian homes. Paintings for homes with the Ganesha theme are very common. These can be framed in the living room or extended to the puja room where we can also keep them in the midst of Ganesha idols. The splendor of colors makes the painting more enhancing.

Ganesha painting is deft strokes by exponents are done exclusively in black and white charcoal or sketches. This is a simple way to adorn the walls. Reputed artists also contribute their paintings of the elephant God with a bit of abstract tendencies by the essence is well retained in any concept.

Tapestry paintings are another common wall adornment in India. The fabric colors or textile painting is a wonderful piece of art which is also the ethnic form of painting from India. With more than 108 names of Ganesha forming his virtues, the various mood of Ganpati can be seen.

There are paintings of Ganesha in oil and water colors too which gives the glimpse of Ganesha in a variety or expressions. Most painters also concentrate on facial features rather than sketching out the entire body form of Ganesha. The images of Ganesha are seen as dancing, aggressive thandav dance or the pleasant faced Ganesha. There are other forms where he is accompanied by a consort or other mythological characters surround the theme.

There are various forms of Ganesha paintings mainly in Kalamkari, Tanjore, Batik and also Glass paintings. There are unusual blends and the painters are yet exploring art works to bring out the best paint forms of the benevolent Ganesha. The adornments of Lord Ganesha and the jewelry also gives a lot of grandeur to any painting style.

Elephant paintings have earned great name for themselves. They are not only graceful but also classic. They have received huge appreciation from the art aficionados. Elephant paintings are a school of Art in themselves. We don’t need to go far if we want to witness splendor of elephant paintings. Ganesha paintings and Kotah Paintings are wonderful examples of elephant paintings. Kotah paintings have captured each and every movement of elephant. Kotah paintings have always been known for capturing movements of animals. The most fascinating aspect of kotah artists was they were able to paint elephant in lively form apart from adding strength and massive bulk. Many people find Deccani paintings impressive because of impressive decoration witnessed in them. But Kotah paintings would rather focus more on huge energy of the elephant. Some famous kotah paintings could be seen in form of royals hunting tiger during the 18th century. The said illustrations belong to period of 1720-1870.

Ganesha Paintings are a common phenomenon in almost every Hindu household. The reason is importance of Lord Ganesha in Hindu ritual. Ganesha is an elephant man and yet he looks genial. The Ganesha paintings are not only religious but also aesthetic.

Those who are familiar with Kotah Paintings must have seen Angry Elephant painting. It is one of the most famous Kotah paintings. The material used for the work is charcoal. It shows two might elephants fighting with each other and only one is visible. It also shows, the king watching from the balcony while attendants’ are trying to deter the animal with firecrackers.

Talking about new century old paintings, it is a broad term covering wide range of art works. According to art experts, the art works created from early 20th century until the present times comes under the umbrella term of new century old paintings. Most of works in last century has been created through amazing experiments and creative capabilities of the artists. 20th Century has been a witness of several classical oil paintings. It all began during impressionism era. The said era is said to begin from 19^th century art movement. The artists from Paris were the chief architects of impressionism era who exhibited their art works in public forums. The trademarks of this era were usage of light colors, emphasis on light, visible brushstrokes, open composition and innovative angles. This style had many renowned followers. One of the artists who created a name for himself in the world of painting using this style of painting was Vincent Van Gogh.

European painting received a great dose of motivation from Cubism era. The influence of this era also spread to music and literature. The peculiar aspects of this era were abstract form of paintings which were first broken up, analyzed and then re-assembled. The scope of cubism era oil paintings was much wider because of multitude of viewpoints. Picasso was one of the legends of this era.

Another famous art movement was Fauvism which was primarily focused on proper usage of colors. Minimalism art form was based on usage of basic fundamental features. From Indian context, Indian painters were hugely infoluenced by western art practices and usage of western principles and techniques can be clearly seen in art works of pre-independence era. Famous Indian oil painters were Raja Ravi Varma, Jamini Roy, Suvaprasanna, M. F. Hussain and Anjolie Ela Menon.

Asian art is a pathway to understand the arts of China, India, Japan, Korea and other south eastern countries of Asia.  Asian arts give an insight into the vibrant history, traditions and cultures of many countries including India. Asian art witnesses some common themes for its paintings. Some of these were Buddhism, celebration of seasons, representation of auspicious beasts, tea practices, religious idols etc.

Asian art work is as distinct as the cultures of Asia and the art collection reveals many forms of similarity and iconography by sharing of religion that too an evidence of all religions that are a part of India. Common themes and techniques such as blue and white ceramic or ink painting can be keenly observed and a notable similarity between Indian art, Chinese Art and Japanese art has been observed suggesting that there was a lot of trading especially in the art industry of those times as well. The Chinese calligraphy, the Buddhist sculptures, the Japanese wood block prints, paintings from Nepal and Tibet all reveal the rich and varied culture of Asia. For avid collectors, Asian art appraisals can be done through a lot of art specialists who have started offering their services online.

Art appraisers with nationally recognized certificates should be considered while contacting. Many of the appraisers also specialize in niche art like the Chinese art or the Indian art etc. Many question as to where did Asian art originate from? Many art forms date back to almost thousands of years and it evolved from country to country. For example Japan’s unique art form dates back to almost three hundred years and is known as the ‘Netsuke’. Similarly Indian and Chinese arts too evolved with time.

Abstract art is one without an identifiable theme, one which doesn’t narrate something peripheral or try to imitate some thing. as a substitute the colour and appearance are the topics of the abstract art. It’s entirely without an aim or objective.
An additional difference is likely to be made between abstract art which is geometric, for example, the art work of Mondrian, and abstract art that is more liquid such as the abstract art work of Kandinsky or Pollock.
Moreover, usually classified with abstract art are symbolic ideas and paintings which stand for things that aren’t visual or illustrative, like emotions, sounds, or divine occurrences. Symbolic ideas are abstractions or generalizations of reality, where detail is eradicated from identifiable objects leaving only the essence or recognizable form to some extent.
In the history of Western art, the myth that every art for had to represent something or the other was broken at the start of the 20th century. This revolution happened with art movements like Impressionism, Fauvism and Cubism. Impressionism referred to painters not finishing their paintings. On the other hand, in Fauvism, colours were used in a non-realistic way. Cubism, as the name states, referred to painting an object from more than one perspective. These ideas gave rise to the thought that anything like the colour or texture can be the subject or the theme of the painting.
Abstract Expressionism come into sight in the 1940s. It applied the laws of Expressionism to abstract painting. Jackson Pollock’s action painting where paint was dripped, dropped, spread, sprinkled and thrown on the canvas, is a fine example.
Abstract painting has given artists a completely new line of ideas. They have the freedom to listen to their gut, without worrying about the limits of art, paint the canvas the way they want to.