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Crafts / Kalighat Painting

Kalighat Painting

State
West Bengal
Material
Paper · Watercolour
Rarity
Rare

From village scroll to city souvenir

About

Bold-lined watercolour pictures of gods and city life painted by the patuas near the Kalighat temple of Kolkata.

Kalighat painting, also called Kalighat pat, is a style of painting that arose in nineteenth-century Kolkata, then Calcutta. It was first made by patuas, painters of scrolls, around the Kalighat Kali temple. The paintings are done on single sheets of paper, with bold outlines, bright colours, and very little background.

The subjects were mostly Hindu gods and goddesses, especially Kali, with stories from the epics, but Kalighat painters also painted everyday life in the growing city, so the paintings record the society of Calcutta in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Pilgrims bought them as souvenirs, and so did foreign visitors.

The tradition is no longer practised as it was, but its style lives on in contemporary patuas who make Kalighat-style paintings. The largest collection of Kalighat paintings in the world, about 645 works, is held by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

How it’s made

Kalighat paintings were made in family workshops with a division of labour, like an assembly line. One person would copy the outline in pencil from a model sketch, another would do the modelling of the figure, shading the flesh and muscles in lighter and darker tones, a third would add the colours to the body and the background, and finally the outlines and finishing touches would be done in lamp black.

The paper was at first handmade and then machine-made. The colours were originally made from natural materials: blue from the aparajita flower, yellow from turmeric root and black from soot from oil lamps. Silver and gold were used for ornaments, and a colloidal tin was used to imitate the lustre of jewels and pearls. A gum from the bel fruit, and sometimes crushed tamarind seeds, was used to bind the colours. Later, imported factory-made watercolours replaced the home-made colours.

The drawing was made with one long, bold, confident sweep of the brush, so that the line often runs around the whole figure without a break. Figures are rounded, with shading to suggest volume, in a plain background, and the faces are shown in front, side or three-quarter view.

Key features

  • Single-sheet paintings in bold outlines and plain backgrounds
  • Confident, sweeping brush lines and rounded, shaded figures
  • Made by patua painters around the Kalighat temple of Kolkata
  • Gods and goddesses, especially Kali, and scenes of city life
  • Natural colours at first, later imported watercolours
  • Silver and gold used on ornaments
  • The largest collection is in the V&A, London

History

There is no exact record of when Kalighat painting began. The type of paper and colours suggest that the paintings belong to the first half of the nineteenth century, and the dates when European collectors acquired them roughly match the establishment of the present Kali temple at Kalighat in the early nineteenth century. The V&A says its Kalighat works were created and collected over about a hundred years, from the 1830s to the 1930s.

The patuas were rural painters from places such as Midnapore and the 24 Parganas, who traditionally painted long narrative scrolls on cloth or paper and sang the stories in villages. As Calcutta grew and the temple attracted pilgrims, the artists migrated to the city. To produce quickly for a market of pilgrims, they changed from long scrolls to single-sheet pictures showing one or two figures, dropped unnecessary details, left the background plain and used a simple palette. Imported mill-made paper and ready-made paints from Britain helped them.

The paintings found buyers among pilgrims, the working classes, merchants and Europeans. John Lockwood Kipling collected some 233 Kalighat paintings, which were donated to the V&A in 1917. By the early twentieth century the old tradition had declined, but the style has continued to inspire later artists.

Facts

  • 645 The largest collection. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London holds the world's largest collection of Kalighat paintings, about 645 works.
  • Single frame From scroll to sheet. In the city, the patuas changed from long narrative scrolls to single-frame pictures of one or two figures, which were quick to make.
  • Family line An assembly line in a family. One person drew the outline, another did the shading, a third coloured and the final outlines were done in lamp black.
  • Aparajita blue Colour from a flower. Blue was made from the aparajita flower, yellow from turmeric and black from soot.

Market

Prints, paintings and gifts

Kalighat-style paintings are sold by Kolkata artists and craft shops as paintings on paper, prints, cards and on textiles and home items. Originals from the nineteenth century are in museums. Many modern copies are printed; hand-painted ones show a single flowing outline and shading.

Sustainability

Paper and natural pigment, a fragile tradition

The art uses paper and small amounts of paint, which is low-impact. It was originally made from natural colours of flowers, turmeric and soot. The craft's challenge is its survival as a living tradition, so buy original paintings from artists.

Products

  • Paintings on paper: Single-sheet paintings of gods and everyday scenes
  • Prints and greeting cards: Reproductions of Kalighat pats
  • Textiles and sarees: Kalighat motifs on cloth
  • Home items: Decor items with Kalighat figures

Words to know

  • Pat: A painted picture or scroll.
  • Patua: The painter who makes pats.
  • Chouko pat: A single square picture, as opposed to a long scroll.
  • Kalighat: The area around the Kali temple in Kolkata where the style arose.
  • Aparajita: A flower from which blue colour was made.

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