Why can we think of Raja Ravi Varma's paintings as national?
Raja Ravi Varma mastered the Western art of oil painting and realistic life study, but painted themes from Indian mythology. He dramatised on canvas, scene after scene from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. From the 1880s, Ravi Varma's mythological paintings became the rage among Indian princes and art collectors.
Why did some artists produce cheap popular prints? What influence would such prints have had on the minds of people who looked at them?
In what way did the British history paintings in India reflect the attitudes of imperial conquerors?
Point out which of the following were brought in with British art:
(a) oil painting (b) miniatures (c) life-size portrait painting (d) use of perspective (e) mural art
1. Fill in the blanks:
(a) The art form which observed carefully and tried to capture exactly what the eye saw is called _________.
(b) The style of painting which showed Indian landscape as a quaint, unexplored land is called _________.
(c) Paintings which showed the social lives of Europeans in India are called _________.
(d) Paintings which depicted scenes from British imperial history and their victories are called _________.
Why did the scroll painters and potters come to Kalighat? Why did they begin to paint new themes?
Describe in your own words one painting from this chapter which suggests that the British were more powerful than Indians. How does the artist depict this?