Forms of Imperial Art


 
 
Concept Explanation
 

Forms of Imperial Art

New Forms of Imperial Art: From 18th century, European artist visited in India .They painted what they perceived about India . They brought with them new techniques such as oil paintings, which made painting life like . These new art forms were instantly adopted by the Indian artists.

From the eighteenth century a stream of European artists came to India along with the British traders and rulers. The artists brought with them new styles and new conventions of painting. They began producing pictures which became widely popular in Europe and helped shape western perceptions of India. European artist brought with them the idea of realism. This was a belief that artists had to observe carefully and depict faithfully what the eye saw. What the artist produced was expected to look real and lifelike. European artists also brought with them the technique of oil painting- a technique with which Indian artists were not very familiar. Oil painting enabled artist to produce image that looked real.

There are some objectives of the European painters behind making a contrast between the Indian and the European lifestyle was to portray the following features:

  • Indian lifestyle was pre- modern, changeless and motionless typified by faqirs, cows and boats sailing on the river.
  • British lifestyle was a modern civilization that exerted a modernizing influence on Indian civilization.
  • This was done with the paintings that showed dramatic changes in India from being a traditional culture to a modernized one as a result of the modernizing influence of the British rule.
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