Origins
Indian art has been written over many millennia. The earliest traces date back to prehistoric times, with the petroglyphs of Bhimbetka dating from the Mesolithic period. On the walls of this site in Madhya Pradesh, rock paintings depict human and animal figures in scenes of combat, dance or everyday life. Peacocks, lizards, elephants, tigers and dogs tell us about the first occupants of this vast country.
Indian sculpture, which developed more rapidly than painting, originated in the Indus Valley. On the border between India and Pakistan, the oldest Indian sculptures were created between 2,500 and 1,800 B.C. These small, sleek figures in terracotta and bronze are either human or zoomorphic. Movement is already present, as shown by the sculptures of dancing girls. Preserved in the National Museum in New Dehli, Rajasthan, they are interpreted as idols. Indeed, Indian art is intimately linked to religion, particularly Hindu and Buddhist.
The rise of sculpture
Stone sculpture adopts monumental proportions and blends in with architecture. Deities such as Shiva and Buddha became imposing. The influence of Jainism, attached to temples, can be felt in this development.
Hindu temples flanked by truncated-pyramid towers are adorned with hundreds of sculptures. Under Muslim rule, many of these holy places were destroyed, particularly those depicting erotic scenes. Of particular note are the sensual sculptures in the astonishing temples of Khajuraho. Built under the Chandela dynasty between the 10th and 12th centuries, they were conceived as practical guides for young boys.
Legend has it that Brahma the Creator dropped a lotus, causing the lake of Pushkar to gush forth. This is where you can visit one of the only temples dedicated to Brahma in the whole of India. Dating from the 14th century, the temple can be spotted by its red pinnacles. All around the lake, hundreds of temples and ghats alternate with hippie shops.
Majestic Taj Mahal
India's most famous temple, the Taj Mahal, was built between 1631 and 1653 in Agra. This jewel of Indo-Islamic architecture celebrates the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan's love for Mumtaz Mahal. The majestic edifice is none other than the mausoleum of the maharaja's third wife. Mumtaz was in fact his first love, whom his father forbade him to marry because of his rank. He imposed two wives on him, both of whom he refused to consummate. When his father died, the emperor was finally able to marry his beloved. Mumtaz bore him fourteen children, before dying on June 17, 1631. Devastated, Shah Jahan demanded that his architects build an edifice worthy of paradise and his eternal love. Today, the sunrise and sunset halo the white marble monument in a romantic light.
Shah Jahan initiated a vast construction program. Every surface is inlaid with stone or finely sculpted in stucco. Marble is used in the most important parts. The first example of a garden tomb, built before the Taj Mahal, can be visited in Delhi. A jewel of the Mughal period, Humayun's tomb dates back to 1560, and features an octagonal interior inlaid with stone and marble on red sandstone.
Unlike other cultures influenced by Islam, Indian art never abandoned figurative art.
Characteristics of Indian art
The distinctive feature of Indian aesthetics is its permanence. Certain characteristics endure for two millennia. Religious art dominates, even if religion and everyday life are so intertwined that it's hard to tell them apart.
The idealized human figure is generally depicted as an adult. They show no signs of aging, illness or weakness. Devoid of modesty, they exalt the human body. The nude is barely veiled. The woman proudly displays her sensuality, all refinement and gentleness.
Indian sculptors and painters happily draw from the pantheon of 33 million gods. However, the great Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva reigns supreme. Each takes on different appearances and attributes, depending on the story. In addition, local beliefs enrich the range of incarnations. These avatars are inspired by the animal kingdom and the qualities inherent in each species.
Treatises set out the canons to be respected. According to these 6 Shadanga, all artists must infuse their creations with beauty of form, harmony of proportion, emotion, aesthetics, realism and balance of color. Despite their rigor, the standards have not hindered the dynamism of Indian art.
The emergence of classicism
The Gupta dynasty (circa 4th-6th century) was characterized by the retreat of the human figure in favor of divine subjects. Brahmanic subjects benefited from the graphic perfection acquired over the ages. Art remained narrative, but gradually lost its warmth. The classical style spread throughout Asia.
Throughout India, local schools began to assert themselves from the 7th century onwards. The decline of Buddhism, which disappeared in the 12th century, had repercussions on the plastic arts. The Vedic religion that succeeded it inspired more eventful and grandiose works.
Two trends emerged: those that perpetuated the canons and those that combined sculpture with architecture.
Painting adopted several forms, including the mandala, which was used as a support for meditation as early as the 1st century. In Bengal, the Patta Chitra school distinguished itself with scroll painting from the5th century B.C. Made on palm leaves by singer-painters, they illustrate Hindu and Muslim religious subjects. Miniaturists illustrated Brahmanic poems. Palaces were adorned not only with frescoes, but also with galleries of paintings.
Rajput paint
Empires and dynasties have succeeded one another in the agricultural lands of Rajasthan. Painting developed in this state in both popular and princely forms. The frescoes in the inner courtyard of Bundi Palace, or Garh Palace, are a magnificent example of18th-century lyricism.
Under the Great Mughal dynasty (1528-1858), at the height of Muslim expansion in India, painting workshops proliferated. Each work was collaborative, academic and anonymous. TheAcademy of Fine Arts in Calcutta has a department of Mughal painting.
Several schools of painting emerged between the 16th and 19th centuries. The first were those of Mewār and then Bundi. Dominated by illumination, this court art was inspired by Persian miniatures and European engraving. Rajput painting illustrates Hinduism (Rāmā and Krishna) or, to a lesser extent, feelings such as love. The figures, seen in profile, have huge eyes and slender noses. The brightly colored background is embellished with natural elements.
Under Shah Jahan, two genres were highly prized: the official portrait and the night landscape. In a cold style, the sovereign is shown in a frozen attitude full of pride. A rich palette is used to represent his authority in every possible way, including standing on a globe. Inspired by Western iconography, the painters introduce cherubs that unfurl odes to his glory on banners. In manuscripts, naturalistic elements inspired by European trends made their appearance.
British colonization and independence
Colonization changed all that. Art schools, founded by the British, spread European art in India. On the other hand, some Indian artists, such as Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906), acquired a good reputation in Europe. He is known as the first painter to show Indian divinities in an earthly setting, like humans. Local traditions and Western inspirations merge. Britain's Horace Van Ruith depicts Brahmin home life, while Indian painters discover a Western vision of Romanticism.
The year 1947 and India's Independence marked a cultural turning point. Artists embarked on a quest for new styles. From then on, their taste for experimentation continued to grow. In 1952, six artists formed the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group. Although short-lived, all the major visual artists of the 1950s joined the group. Maqbool Fida Husain (1915-2011), founder of this progressive movement, revived narrative painting and cubism. Influenced by Picasso, Husain fused Indian aesthetics with the master's innovations. Experimentation remains the watchword of contemporary Indian art.
Photography
Generations of photographers have immortalized India's diversity. Among those from the north, Raghu Rai, born in 1942, is one of the world's greatest photographers. Joining the Magnum agency under Henri Cartier-Bresson, he scrutinizes India, its cities, its events and its personalities through his lens. His images have won prizes at all the international photography fairs.
One of the pioneers of color photography, Raghubir Singh, was born in Jaipur in 1942. Self-taught, he reinvented the use of color in the 1970s, capturing the thousand facets of India. Born into a royal family from Rajasthan, he set out as an amateur with the idea that only chromatic nuances could capture the essence of Indian culture. In Bombay, his work focused on the construction of space and light. In the latter part of his career, after his death in 1999, he framed his photographs through the windows and windscreen of the car that took him across the country. His concept, akin to a photographic road movie, tended towards abstraction. His work is included in the permanent collections of international museums such as the Tate Modern in London, the MoMA in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Born in Calcutta in 1956, Prabuddha Dasgupta has made a name for himself in fashion photography. His extremely elegant black-and-white shots are much admired. His book Women, published in 1996, is the only Indian book of its kind. He died in 2012, leaving behind a rare collection of portraits and nudes of urban Indian women.
India's first female photojournalist, Homai Vyarawalla (1913-2012) was born into a modest family in Gujarat. In defiance of prejudice, she decided to study in Mumbai. In 1926, she met the photographer Maneckshaw Vyarawalla. He introduced her to photography. With her camera, the courageous Homai cycled around the city to glean her first images. She captured emotional moments as well as historical events, notably the last days of British colonization and the emergence of the nation. Assigned with her husband in 1942, she found herself in Delhi. Her portraits of Gandhi and Nehru are among the most emblematic of modern India. Homai bequeaths forty years of photographs to the Delhi-based Alkazi Arts Foundation.
Chandan Gomes (b. 1987) is one of the new generation of artists living and working in New Delhi. At the age of 23, this former philosophy student became the youngest photographer to receive the Indian Fellowship for Photography. In his series The Unknown Citizen, he speaks out against the ills of society. Another aspect of his work questions the notion of beauty and abandonment. Gomes exhibited at the Delhi Photo Festival and Rencontres photographiques d'Arles in 2018.
The photographic exhibitions at Varanasi's Kriti Gallery are of outstanding quality, and are supported by the Banaras Cultural Foundation, which is deeply committed to promoting the art of Uttar Pradesh.
Contemporary art
The end of the 20th century was marked by an upheaval in the cultural panorama. Several factors contributed to the explosion of contemporary art in India, not least the country's economic boom. More than fifty art galleries opened in Delhi and Mumbai in less than ten years. Emerging talents have begun to attract the attention of the international market. Some have appeared at major world events or received large-scale commissions. One of the first, the minimalist sculptor Anish Kapoor, born in 1954, is present in the world's major collections and art fairs. His installations, which borrow from both Eastern and Western culture, never go unnoticed.
These artists call on a team of assistants to create their works. This is why they have set up shop in warehouses on the outskirts of metropolises. In Delhi, they chose the outlying city of Gurgaon to open their studios. Here, we meet contemporary art superstar Subodh Gupta. Born in 1964, Gupta came from a modest background. Trained as a painter, he then experimented with photography, sculpture and installation. He now lives and works in Delhi. His gigantic installations require a whole team of craftsmen, including metalworkers. In the early days, Subodh Gupta created his installations from traditional Indian tableware. Subsequently, the size of his everyday objects was multiplied by five or ten: tea sets, door knobs and so on. So many reminders of his origins.
Street side
In India, street art is a way of life. Bollywood stars are painted on rickshaws, advertisements on walls, and gods on shopfronts to remind people that urinating in public is forbidden. Even in the most remote villages, painting in the open air is a tradition.
The first district of New Delhi to open up to street artists was Khirki Village. It was here that a striking Buddha face wearing an anti-pollution mask was once painted next to a rubbish dump. Unfortunately, it has since been covered in white paint. But that hasn't dampened the spirits of the locals. Khirki is home to a number of young galleries, as well as Khoj, a contemporary art center offering residencies and innovative events.
The capital's tallest (45 metres) and most iconic fresco covers the façade of the Police Headquarters. The famous smiling portrait of Gandhi is the work of Anpu Varkey and German artist Hendrick ECB Beikirch. This was the first official commission for public art. It was created in January 2014 as part of the St+Art Delhi Festival. The St+Art India association promotes public art in India's major metropolises. Its aim? To generate creative hubs. A successful gamble! In every Indian city, north and south, arty districts are brimming with a thousand faces of dynamism.
India continues to give pride of place to sculpture. In 2018, the Statue of Unity became the world's tallest statue, at 180 metres high (that's 4 Statues of Liberty). Standing on the islet of the Narmada in the state of Gujarat, it features the effigy of statesman Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Conceived as a symbol of Independence, the concrete work offers a nationalist version of an ancestral tradition.
