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Nainsukh | |
---|---|
Born | Nainsukh c. 1710 |
Died | 1778 Guler, Guler State |
Known for | Painting |
Movement | Pahari painting |
Family | Manaku (brother) |
Nainsukh (literally "Joy of the Eyes"; c. 1710 [1] – 1778) was an Indian painter. He was the younger son of the painter Pandit Seu and, like his older brother Manaku of Guler, was an important practitioner of Pahari painting, and has been called "one of the most original and brilliant of Indian painters". [2]
Around 1740 he left the family workshop in Guler and moved to Jasrota, where he painted most of his works for the local Rajput ruler Mian Zorowar Singh and his son Balwant Singh until the latter's death in 1763. This is the best known and documented phase of his career. Through his adaptation of elements of Mughal painting, he was a central force in the development of Pahari painting in the middle of the eighteenth century, bringing Mughal elements into what had been a school mainly concerned with Hindu religious subjects. [3] In his final phase at Basholi, from about 1765 until his death in 1778, Nainsukh returned to religious subject matter, but retaining his stylistic innovations. By the end of his career, with an active family workshop continuing his style, he was probably not executing the works himself anymore, but leaving them to his children and nephew as his artistic heirs. Such works are often ascribed to the Family of Nainsukh. [4]
According to B.N. Goswamy, the leading scholar of Nainsukh, "Devices and mannerisms associated with Nainsukh include: a preference for uncoloured grounds; shading through a light wash that imparts volume and weight to figures and groups; a fine horizontal line that separates ground from background; a rich green in which his landscapes are usually bathed; a bush with flat circular leaves that he often introduces; a peculiar loop of the long stem of a hooka; and a minor figure often introduced in a two-thirds profile." [5]
Although a great part of his work may be lost, around a hundred works by Nainsukh survive, many in both Indian and Western museums. Four of these bear his signature, and several have inscribed titles or comments. [6] Unusually for Pahari painting, some are dated. [7] There are at least two self-portraits, one from early in his career, and the other in a group scene with Balwant Singh, who is looking at a miniature, with the artist seated below him. Nainsukh peers over the raja's shoulder, perhaps offering his comments on the work, or ready to do so. [8] '
Nainsukh, a film based on his life directed by Amit Dutta released in 2010. Dutta has also made the short documentary films Gita Govinda (2013), Field-Trip (2013), and Scenes from a Sketchbook (2016) which cover different aspects of the painter's work. [9]
Nainsukh was born c. 1710 in Guler in modern Himachal Pradesh, India, then the capital of the pocket Guler State in the far north of India, in the foothills of the Himalayas. Here his father subsequently established a painting workshop. Along with his brother who was around ten years older than him, he was trained by his father in all aspects of painting from an early age. At this very time, examples of Moghul painting were increasingly coming to the valleys of the west Himalayas, and it seems probable that Nainsukh came into contact with the works of Mughul painters early on. Possibly he had worked at a Mughal court, where Hindu artists were common. [10]
Unlike his stylistically more conservative brother Manaku, who remained in Guler and closely conformed to the style of his father Seu, [11] Nainsukh introduced many of the novel elements of Moghul painting into the traditional Pahari style employed by his family. His early work is very poorly documented, and his distinctive style emerges almost fully formed in the next phase of his career. [12]
Around 1740, Nainsukh left his father's workshop in Guler and moved to Jasrota. It is unknown whether he made this move because of his stylistic innovations or for economic reasons (Guler was probably too small for two painters of the calibre of Manaku and Nainsukh). In the small but wealthy principality of Jasrota, Nainsukh worked for various patrons. [13]
The most important was Raja Balwant Singh (1724–1763), who employed him for almost twenty years, until his untimely death. His work for Balwant Singh is his most celebrated, showing unusually intimate, informal, and sometimes downright unflattering scenes of the raja going about his daily round of pleasures. Balwant Singh ranked very low in the ranks of Hindu princes, and was barely a ruler as opposed to a landowner. [14] The hill states gained in prosperity from the turmoil to the south after the capture of Delhi by the Persian Nadir Shah in 1739 diverted trade routes their way. [15]
The relationship between the art-loving Balwant Singh and Nainsukh must have been very close, since Nainsukh seems to have been employed by him often and able to see and record intimate scenes of his everyday life. Balwant Singh must have lacked the normal attitude of other Indian royalty to only allow images to be produced that displayed the magnificence of his life; who between patron and painter first suggested this very informal approach is unknown. As well as some more conventional scenes, such as showing the raja hunting with a retinue or watching dancers, paintings by Nainsukh show the raja getting his beard trimmed, writing a letter, performing a puja, looking out of a palace window, sitting in front of the fire wrapped in a blanket, or smoking a hookah and inspecting a painting. [16] When Balwant Singh had to spend a period in exile in Guler Nainsukh accompanied him. [17]
It is characteristic of Nainsukh that he captures such specific situations and settings with great sensitivity. In his depictions of scenes, he moved away from stylised types in favour of realistic depictions. [18] In his naturalistic depiction of buildings and books and his efforts to depict depth, Nainsukh shows the influence of his study of works by Mughal painters. Intimate depictions of Rajput rulers were not entirely unprecedented; Raja Sidhi Sen, 10th Raja of Mandi (died 1727) had had many images of himself painted, but these emphasized what was evidently a very impressive physique, and evoked the tradition of the mahapurusha, or supernaturally perfect being. In one portrait, according to B.N. Goswamy, the raja "combines an extreme informality of appearance with great majesty of bearing", a very different effect from that of Nainsukh's paintings. [19]
The close relationship between Nainsukh and Balwant Singh is also shown by the fact that after his master's early death in 1763, he took his ashes to Haridwar along with his family's possessions, as he recorded in a long entry in the register of the pilgrimage's destination, including a drawing in pen. [20] Haridwar is one of the Sapta Puri or "Seven Holy Places" of Hinduism, and the ashes were to be cast on the river Ganges in a common funerary ritual. [21] This register record is an important source for the reconstruction of Nainsukh's life and work, which was previously clouded by considerable uncertainty, and his entry demonstrates the growing perception by artists of their importance. He also painted a miniature which probably shows the raja's ashes, ceremonially arranged in a screen tent in the countryside with two attendants, presumably at a resting place while on their way to Haridwar. [22]
After Balwant Singh's death in 1763, around 1765 Nainsukh moved and entered the service of Amrit Pal (ruled 1757–1778), [23] a nephew of Balwant Singh and ruler of Basohli, a very devout Hindu who eventually abdicated the throne in order to devote himself to a life of meditation. For him, Nainsukh produced entirely different kinds of work, turning to the more typical Pahari subject matter of illustrating poems recounting the stories from the great Hindu religious epics. His later work is less well known than that of his Jasrota period, and in the opinion of many scholars under-rated. [24] He began to make drawings for a set of illustrations to the Gita Govinda , a famous poem on the earthly exploits of Krishna. Some late sheets by Nainsukh that were not taken beyond the stage of preliminary drawings have comments by priests and scholars on the appropriateness of the images and their faithfulness to the texts they illustrate. This indicates that the religious function of such illustrations remained important. [25]
In the family workshop which he headed in Basohli toward the end of his life, Nainsukh appear to have collaborated with his nephew Fattu (c. 1725 – 1785, son of Manaku) and his youngest son Ranjha (c. 1750 – 1830). He had three other sons: Kama (c. 1735 – c. 1810), Gaudhu (c. 1740 – 1820) and Nikka (c. 1745 – 1833). [26] Nainsukh died in Basohli in 1778. [27] Members of the family spread out in the region, carrying the family style throughout the hills. [28]
They too became painters who continued to work in the naturalistic and graceful Pahari style developed by Nainsukh. These are often attributed to the "Family of Nainsukh", as individual artists are hard to identify. The family workshop continued into the 19th century, and art historians tend to divide their work into categories such as the "first generation after Nainsukh" (or "after Nainsukh and Manaku"). [29]
Mughal painting is a South Asian style of painting on paper confined to miniatures either as book illustrations or as single works to be kept in albums (muraqqa), originating from the territory of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. It emerged from Persian miniature painting and developed in the court of the Mughal Empire of the 16th to 18th centuries. Battles, legendary stories, hunting scenes, wildlife, royal life, mythology, as well as other subjects have all been frequently depicted in paintings.
Rajput painting, painting of the regional Hindu courts during the Mughal era, roughly from the end of the 16th century to the middle of the 19th century. Traditionally, Rajput painting is further divided into Rajasthan and Pahari painting which flourished in two different areas "far apart from each other in terms of distance but all under the rule of Rajput chiefs, and bound together by a common culture".
Pahari painting is an umbrella term used for a form of Indian painting, done mostly in miniature forms, originating from the lower Himalayan hill kingdoms of North India and plains of Punjab, during the early 17th to mid 19th century, notably Basohli, Mankot, Nurpur, Chamba, Kangra, Guler, Mandi and Garhwal. Nainsukh was a famous master of the mid-18th century, followed by his family workshop for another two generations. The central theme of Pahari painting is depiction of eternal love of the Hindu deities Radha and Krishna. A distinct lyricism, spontaneous rhythm, softness, minute intricate details of composition, and intense perception and portrayal of human emotions and physical features distinguish the Pahari miniatures from the other miniature schools like Deccan, Mughal and Rajasthani-Rajput.
The Hill States of India were princely states lying in the northern border regions of the British Indian Empire.
Company style, also known as Company painting is a term for a hybrid Indo-European style of paintings made in British India by Indian artists, many of whom worked for European patrons in the East India Company or other foreign Companies in the 18th and 19th centuries. The style blended traditional elements from Rajput and Mughal painting (predominately) with a more Western treatment of perspective, volume and recession. Most paintings were small, reflecting the Indian miniature tradition, but the natural history paintings of plants and birds were usually life size.
Jasrota kingdom in the Himalayan foothills of India was founded in 1064 A.D at south-eastern Jammu between the Ravi and the Ujh rivers which ended in 1815. The remainants of Jasrota kingdom exists as ruined forts, restored temples, water bodies and canals in Hiranagar tehsil, Narowal tehsil, Nagri tehsil, Kathua tehsil, Marheen tehsil, Dinga Amb tehsil, Ramkot tehsil, Mahanpur tehsil, Billawar tehsil.
The Dogra dynasty of Dogra Rajputs from the Shivalik hills created Jammu and Kashmir through the treaties with the East India Company following the First Anglo-Sikh war. Events led the Sikh Empire to recognise Jammu as a vassal state in 1820, and later the British added Kashmir to Jammu with the Treaty of Amritsar in 1846. The founder of the dynasty, Gulab Singh, was an influential noble in the court of the Sikh emperor Maharaja Ranjit Singh, while his brother Dhian Singh served as the prime minister of the Sikh Empire. Appointed by Ranjit Singh as the hereditary Raja of the Jammu principality, Gulab Singh established his supremacy over all the hill states surrounding the Kashmir Valley. After the First Anglo-Sikh War in 1846, under the terms of the Treaty of Lahore, 1846, the British East India Company acquired Kashmir from the Sikh Empire and transferred it to Gulab Singh, recognising him as an independent Maharaja. Thus, Jammu and Kashmir was established as one of the largest princely states in India, receiving a 21-gun salute for its Maharaja in 1921. It was ruled by Gulab Singh and his descendants until 1947.
Kangra painting is the pictorial art of Kangra, named after the Kangra State, a former princely state of Himachal Pradesh, which patronized the art. The art style became prevalent with the fading of the Basohli school of painting in the mid-18th century. Later, Kangra paintings were produced in such magnitude, both in content and volume, that the Pahari painting school came to be known as the Kangra painting school. Kangra painting style was registered under the Geographical Indication of Goods Act, 1999 on 2nd April 2012.
The Rietberg Museum is a museum in Zürich, Switzerland, displaying Asian, African, American and Oceanian art. It is the largest art museum focusing on non-European art and design in Switzerland, the third-largest museum in Zürich, and the largest to be run by the city itself. In 2007, it received approximately 157,000 visitors.
Guler was a minor kingdom in the Lower Himalayas. Its capital was the town of Haripur Guler, in modern-day Himachal Pradesh. The kingdom was founded in 1415 by Raja Hari Chand, a scion of the ancient royal family of Kangra. The etymology of the word Guler can be traced to the word Gwalior, meaning the abode of cowherds. One of the foremost schools of Pahari miniatures is named after this small principality.
Eberhard Fischer is a German art historian, ethnologist and author based in Switzerland. He is a former Director and the incumbent President of Rietberg Society, Switzerland. Fischer was honored by the Government of India, in 2012, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.
The Bikaner style of painting is a Rajasthani style of Indian painting developed in the city of Bikaner, capital of Bikaner State. It is one of the many schools of Rajput painting that developed in the late 17th century with the help of artists from the imperial Mughal workshops, who dispersed after these were run down in the reign of Aurangzeb, who ceased to patronize Mughal painting. The subjects are most either court portraits, or illustrations to Hindu texts. The Bikaner style is more closely related to the Mughal one than many other Rajput styles, also with some elements of Deccan style.
Balwant Singh may refer to:
Brijinder Nath Goswamy was an Indian art critic, art historian, and vice chairman of the Sarabhai Foundation of Ahmedabad, which runs the Calico Museum of Textiles. Goswamy was best known for his scholarship on Pahari painting and Indian miniature paintings. He was the author of over 20 books on arts and culture, including Sakti Burman: A Private Universe, a monograph on the life and works of Sakti Burman, renowned Bengali painter and Masters of Indian Painting 1100-1900, a treatise on Indian miniature art. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian award of the Padma Shri in 1998 and followed it up with the third highest honour of the Padma Bhushan in 2008.
Deccan painting or Deccani painting is the form of Indian miniature painting produced in the Deccan region of Central India, in the various Muslim capitals of the Deccan sultanates that emerged from the break-up of the Bahmani Sultanate by 1520. These were Bijapur, Golkonda, Ahmadnagar, Bidar, and Berar. The main period was between the late 16th century and the mid-17th, with something of a revival in the mid-18th century, by then centred on Hyderabad.
Andrew S. Topsfield is Keeper of Eastern Art at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. He was educated at Winchester College and the universities of Oxford and London. In 1978 he joined the Indian section of the Victoria and Albert Museum as an assistant keeper and moved to the Ashmolean Museum as assistant keeper of eastern art in 1984.
Manaku of Guler or Manaku was an Indian painter from the Guler State, in modern-day Himachal Pradesh. After his death he was mostly forgotten and overshadowed by his much-celebrated younger brother Nainsukh. But today he is recognised as an exponent of Pahari style of painting, much like his brother. The rediscovery of Manaku has been a result of research efforts by art historians like B. N. Goswamy. Like Nainsukh, Manaku almost never signed his works, and only four extant works carry his signature.
Indian miniature paintings are a class of paintings originating from India. Made on canvases a few inches in length and width, the Indian miniatures are noted for the amount of details that the artist encapsulates within the minute canvas frame; and the characteristic sensitivity with which the human, divine and natural forms are portrayed.
Purkhu, also spelt as Purkhoo or Parkhu, and also known as Purkhu of Kangra, was a Pahari painter who specialized in the Kangra-style. He painted both courtly and religious themes.
Seu (ca.1680–1740), also known as Pandit Seu, was a Pahari artist who specialized in musawir. He was attached to the court of Raja Dilip Singh of Guler State.