As the name suggests, Kalighat paintings were created around the Kali temple in Kolkata, on the banks or ghat of the Ganga. A peep into its history shows that a style of painting that flourished in 19th century Bengal was that of traditional scroll paintings. Done on cloth or pata , they showed images of deities. The artists, simple village folk, travelled all over rural Bengal and sang scenes from the scrolls during village gatherings or festivals. Interestingly, some of these patuas (painters on cloth) were half Hindu and half Muslim.
Evolution of Kalighat
Meanwhile the British presence in Kolkata, then Calcutta, saw the emergence of institutions to train Indian artists in European styles of art. This attracted a large number of patuas to the city, who then chose the Kalighat area, a centre of tourist and religious activity, as their hub. Gradually they started to learn new methods and in a unique coming together of the Oriental (from or characteristic of Asia) and Occidental (relating to countries of the West) techniques, the Kalighat style was born.
Having flocked to the city after giving up the uncertain lifestyle and income from rural performances, the patuas appear to have recorded the distinctive features of the urban setting in which they found themselves. Several changes were brought in. Other than religious deities like Kali, Shiva, Annapurna and so on that had till their formed the crux of their art, the patuas also began to portray social themes and even heroic characters like Rani Lakshmibai and Tipu Sultan. Other popular themes were depictions of life in Kolkata’s cosmopolitan circles, its British rulers, the emerging Bengali upper and middle classes and the supporting classes.
The patuas also evolved a quick method of painting on mill-made paper, as opposed to the traditional cloth.
Using brush and ink from lamp soot, the artists defined figures of deities and humans with deft and flowing lines. Usually, the master artist pencilled the basic forms which his family then inked. Another change later was the use of quick-drying water colours rather than the indigenous paints used earlier.
An important achievement of the Kalighat artists was that they made simple paintings in a delightful blend of the religious and secular, eastern and western, rural and urban.
