Analysis Of Christ With Angels Painting By Jamini Roy.
From the early depictions of Jesus in caves to the famous Renaissance artist’s canvas, Christianity was at its peak in European and Western countries. When it came to India, Jesus was painted with various colours through the same divinity, but this time by Indian artists. One such artist who used folk art to depict Christ with angels is Jamini Roy. Before we analyse one of the famous art of the artist, let us rewind and read about his life.
Who Was Jamini Roy?
In his lifetime, Jamini Roy painted 20,000 artworks, ten every day, making him far more than just an artist. Born in the Bankura district of Bengal in 1887, he was raised in a middle-class family. He studied under Abanindranath Tagore, where he learnt to paint the classical nude and oil painting. However, he always wanted to reform and bring out the earlier Indian culture, so he looked for folk art. After being inspired by Kalighat’s paintings, he began to paint landscapes and portraits on canvas; and then Santhals.
His unique style to balance Indian traditional art with materials of Western sensibilities was noteworthy among his compositions. He derived pigments from Bengali folk art, calligraphy and temple decoration while combining them with shapes, lines and symmetry. He portrayed many mythological scenes of Ramayana and other stories on his canvas.
Now let us go to the examination of the artwork.
Formal Analysis Of The Artwork.
The painting has a central figure of a lady in a queen position, carrying a child. Furthermore, there are angels around her in the monuments.
If you look closely at the artwork, there is a blend of Westernism with Indian traditions through the depiction of Temple architecture and Jesus with angels. There is also use of symbols like fish, lines and dots that were used to decorate the Indian mud homes back in the past times. The postures of the angels narrate a story of the baptism of christ, where the figures have long rounded eyes of a symmetrical shape.
The artist carefully blends the Kalighat painting style to give modern Indian art, where he succeeds.
There are other figures portrayed in the downward scenes, where three men are posturing in a prayer position. At the bottom right corner of the artwork, there is careful calligraphy by the artist.
Now that you know about it, let us move on to the colour study of the same.
Colour Analysis Of The Painting.
On a mud brick reddish background, there is a use of colours like red, green, yellow and blue. Furthermore, there is also the use of white colour to highlight the crown, earrings and peaceful flags. There is the use of lines to make a criss-cross design on every cloth of the figures. The angel wings showcase different colours here.
Conclusion.
As we try to modernise India with Western culture, there existed few artists who were deep in the roots of India. Jamini Roy was one of the epic and dedicated artists who revived Indian culture through his paintings.
Do you like this depiction of Jesus by an Indian artist? What do you think about it? Let me know in the comments below.
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