Pãt of Gold: A presentation on Kalighat Painting
The First Presentation was made on 19th December 2018, to a selected list of participants, in a Seminar on Kalighat Paintings organized by The Crafts Council of West Bengal at Kolkata Centre of Creativity.
The Second Presentation was made on 6th July 2019, to an open house, on popular demand for a rerun to a larger audience on the behest of Kolkata Centre of Creativity.
Pãt of Gold: A presentation on Kalighat Painting and its spheres of influence. Some important highlights from the presentation. The story starts at Kalighat which is believed to have been having a temple from 15th. Century and it has been referred to in Mansar Bhasan composed in the 15th century. The Kalighat temple in its present form is only about 200 years old, although however our story is much more nearer.
Kalighat Pãt originated in the early 19th century in the vicinity of Kalighat’s Kali Temple. From at least as early as the 1830s until the 1930s, the images were painted by Patuas and sold as pilgrimage and tourist souvenirs, not only in the shops and stalls lining the alleys of the Kalighat area but also in other temples in the city. With the advent of the Eastern Bengal Railway 1857 and trains running to Calcutta from 1860 it paved the way for more Patuas to reach Calcutta.
Pats were of two kinds. The first being Sara and second Jorano. All art has a content and form. The Kalighat Pãt took its content more from the Sara and the form from the Jorano Pãt. The Jorano Pãt is segmented into different pictorial images along with which the narrative was a story telling with songs. The segmented images being separated lends its form to the Kalighat as a single frame.
The Kalighat pats were sold in markets near Kalighat and sometimes the Patuas sold other earthen wares in their shops. In an Aquatint of Madam Belenos done in 1830 it is clear that Kalighat Pãt was existing. Though the rendering is poor it of Lord Shiva.
Despite its link with the famous Hindu temple, the painting tradition was diverse enough in its repertoire to include subjects from other religious traditions, as well as non-religious themes. An aquatint from 1775 of Balthazar Solvyns shows Chalachitra over the idol of the Durga Ma existed but Kalighat paintings had an impact on the images and to this day it continues to be painted by the Patuas.
Woodblock prints taken from the Kalighat images starting floating in the market. They were of gods and goddesses but also in the tradition of Kalighat made a social comment on the Babus and recent socio political happening. The next influence where they copied the images from the Kalighat Pãt to make woodblocks and most of the time had the patuas hand paint the woodblock images to be sold in the market.
It is at this time that copies of Kalighat painting through the pilgrims also reached the rural areas and had an impact on the tribal art such as the Santhal pats. The next influence was in the Bottala literature. And from this the Panjika or the Bengali Almanac which was not far behind. Here is an example dated 1328 having images in woodblock printed in it.
The other influence was on erotica. Kalighat Pãt had a huge amount of erotic images and including the Elokashi Mahant love affair which was a big subject in Kalighat pats. This impacted printing of lithography and immense amount of erotic Bottala literature which by itself became a genre and today a collector’s item.
It is interesting to note that during this time it impacted the advertisements. It is from here that it moved to lithography where it started to be copied and printed in the lithographic process. Not only in Black and White but also in colour. The Colour Litho Print in the style of Kalighat went on to impact for example Cigarette Cards. ITC then known as Imperial Tobacco Company launched the Engine brand cigarette with lithographic cards with Byjee or Singers of that day. Kalighat impacted woodblock print influenced such visuals in the cards.
It also had an effect on mill labels which are labels of British Mills in Kolkata coming out with their cloths with their labels similar to Kalighat Pats. Then we have the safety matches printed from Japan which was a mirror of the Kalighat Pats. And of labels of different products such as perfumes and hair oils most of them being printed from Germany. Then influence was not restricted to Kolkata alone, it reached Bombay and here we have postcards printed by Joshi brothers which are a reflection of Kalighat.
One of the most important influences are on the porcelain figurines of Gods and Goddesses which were made in Dresden Germany and sent to Calcutta to be sold in the open market. Here are some examples of Ganesh, Vidya and Shiva-Parvati with Ganesh riding Nandi. The other is the most copied image of Kalighat which you will all recognize: the Kalighat Cat. Much latter a greater impact on Natungram, Bardhaman where they started copying the image of the Kalighat drawing. Here we have the famous wood engraver Bhakta Bhaskar and some of his work reflecting the influence of Kalighat. The image of the gods that we worship is a direct impact of Kalighat, through the woodcuts to the chromolithograph of the Calcutta Studio and the others it went to have a deep impression on the Kumartuli artists.
Even painters owe their allegiance to the Kalighat paintings, Jamini Roy declared himself to be a Patua and for some time lived with them to understand the nuance and the brush stroke of the art. He is a self-confessed patua who even refused to sign his paintings on the line of the Kalighat patuas. During his stay with the Patuas in Kalighat he also tried his hand in clay sculpture.
Mukul De the famous Shantiniketan painter and dry-point artist wrote in his book that he was influenced by Kalighat painting and had a huge collection which he ultimately sold to W G Archer The other self- declared follower of Kalighat was the artist Paritosh Sen. Paritosh Sen met Pablo Picasso in the 1950 at his studio in Rue des Grands Augustins. The master had only promised the younger artist 15 minutes of his time. The two men talked for five hours and before leaving he presented him a Sara Pãt and some Kalighat Paintings which influenced him. The other is the French Artist Fernand Leger who was influenced by Kalighat and there are many comparisons of his work which can be drawn to Kalighat paintings.
Nearer to home again, DK Gupta the owner publisher of Signet Press for whom Satyajit Ray did cover design was greatly influenced by Kalighat. Kalighat paintings also had influence on the motifs of Bengal architecture. But Kalighat paintings did not enjoy the pride of place and it was left to some individuals to propagate the art among them the foremost was the High Court Lawyer and Art Critic Ajit Ghosh who for the first time in 1926 write an article in the magazine Rupam and also in Smithsonian Journal. His Collection was handed over to the Birlas.
The other is Radha Prasad Gupta who wrote widely on the subject particularly in the Bengali Magazine Desh to make the Bengalese aware of it. Along with him is the duo Subho Tagore and Nikhil Sarkar. It is Shatulbabu as R P Gupta who introduced my father Nirmal Chandra Kumar the antiquarian, to Kalighat paintings.
My father who was an antiquarian introduced Solvyns to Kolkata was not too bent on this Bengal iconograph. Later he went on to promote Kalighat Pãt extensively.
Slowly it is full-circle and Kalighat Painting has impacted the themed puja where Kalighat is the theme. It is in Fashion as well where Kalighat is borrowed in textile designing and the recent fashion show from NIFT in this exposition showcased it. Calendars are designed using Kalighat Paintings. It has entered the commercial market as a premium collector’s item in the form of jigsaw puzzle. It has become pop-art. Today the subject is of much discussion and when I first wrote about its influence on Picasso there was a huge outcry but my paper received proper recognition when a student doing a PHD in the University of Bologna in Italy chose to work on the subject. Maria Gertrud is is a Dutch cultural theorist and Professor Emeritus in Literary Theory at the University of Amsterdam. It is true that it is a sphere. It has completed the circle.
The biggest influence is on the Jorano Pãt where it started. The influence is to make the scroll painting into a single sheet which is the greatest tribute to the art.
