Indian Art
- For centuries Hinduism and Buddhism have influenced all aspects of Indian life.
- Both have their own unique style of artwork but sometimes they blend together, resulting in artworks that are both Hindu and Buddhist in style.
- The Indus Valley Civilization:-The modern nations of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh trace their cultural beginnings to the early Indian civilizations.
Historians now recognize that an ancient civilization once flourished on the banks of the Indus River in what is now northwest India
- The Harappans
:-Many Harappan clay works have been found, most of which were apparently made for trading services.
- Only a few bronze and stone sculptures from Mohenjo-Daro have survived to the present day.
- Artworks found hint at a fully developed artistic style and provide insight on religious beliefs of the mysterious civilization.
- Artworks indicate they worshipped a great many spirits who, they believed, were found in water, trees, animals, and humans.
Symbolism in Buddhist Art
- The complex carvings and sculptures that adorned the shrines were intended to remind worshipers of Buddha’s teaching and aid them in meditation.
The figure of Buddha never appears in the shrines.
- His presence is implied by such symbols as an empty throne, a tree under which he meditated, and his footprints.
- A person who had reached nirvana could not be represented by any type of illustration, so symbols were used to inspire meditation and teachings.
The wheel is a reoccurring symbol that stands for the circle of life, maturity, and death associated with each reincarnation, all leading to nirvana
Early Buddhist sculptures depict various events in the life of the Buddha.
- This artwork found in a stupa shows the Buddha being visited by the king.
- Buddha is only represented by a symbol, in this case the wheel placed on an empty throne.
- The wheel symbolizes the circle of life, maturity, and death associated with each reincarnation, all leading to Nirvana.
After a number of reforms in Buddhist religion, as a consequence artists began representing Buddha in human form.
Madhubani Painting
- Madhubani art has five distinctive styles: Bharni, Kachni, Tantrik, Godna and Kohbar.
- In the 1960s Bharni, Kachni and Tantrik styles were mainly done by Brahman and Kayashth women, who are 'upper caste' women in India and Nepal. Their themes were mainly religious and they depicted Gods and Goddesses paintings.
- People of lower castes included aspects of their daily life and symbols, the story of Raja Shailesh [guard of the village] and much more, in their paintings.
- Nowadays Madhubani art has become a globalised art form, so there is no difference in the work on the basis of the caste system. They work in all five styles.
- Madhubani art has received worldwide attention
Sculpture
- Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions.
- It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sculptural processes originally used carving and modelling, in stone, metal, ceramics, wood and other materials but, since Modernism, there has been an almost complete freedom of materials and process.
- A wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modelling, or moulded or cast.Sculpture in stone survives far better than works of art in perishable materials, and often represents the majority of the surviving works from ancient cultures, though conversely traditions of sculpture in wood may have vanished almost entirely.
- However, most ancient sculpture was brightly painted, and this has been lost.Sculpture has been central in religious devotion in many cultures, and until recent centuries large sculptures, too expensive for private individuals to create, were usually an expression of religion or politics.
- Those cultures whose sculptures have survived in quantities include the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, India and China, as well as many in Central and South America and Africa.