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Rasa Renaissance is a movement in the art of painting that makes evocation of rasas (emotional moods) the prime aim in the creation and appreciation of a work of art. Rasa is the quality of emotional fulfilment that a work of art produces through the personalities, their expression and the situation presented in a painting. Rasa is a Sanskrit word that denotes the quality of emotional fulfilment that a work of art brings about. Rasa Theory is a theory of aesthetic criticism that has been prevalent in appreciation of literary works in Sanskrit language for millenniums (see: Indian aesthetic).
A rasa literally means "juice, essence or taste". It connotes a concept in Indian arts about the aesthetic flavour of any visual, literary or musical work that evokes an emotion or feeling in the reader or audience but cannot be described. It refers to the emotional flavors/essence crafted into the work by the writer and relished by a 'sensitive spectator' or sahṛdaya or one with positive taste and mind.
Sanskrit is a language of ancient India with a 3,500 year history. It is the primary liturgical language of Hinduism and the predominant language of most works of Hindu philosophy as well as some of the principal texts of Buddhism and Jainism. Sanskrit, in its variants and numerous dialects, was the lingua franca of ancient and medieval India. In the early 1st millennium CE, along with Buddhism and Hinduism, Sanskrit migrated to Southeast Asia, parts of East Asia and Central Asia, emerging as a language of high culture and of local ruling elites in these regions.
Indian art evolved with an emphasis on inducing special spiritual or philosophical states in the audience, or with representing them symbolically.
The idea of Rasa Renaissance evolved in the last quarter of the twentieth century in the domain of painting, as a countermovement to abstract and conceptual art. Rasa Renaissance is led by artist, philosopher and Sanskrit scholar Dr. Mumbiram of India (Ph.D. Berkeley California). In the twentieth century, the art of painting progressively became dissociated from depiction of personalities in real-world situations. It concerned itself with exploration of forms and colours for their own sake. It became more or less an exercise in clever intellectual sophistication. Art of Rasa Renaissance presupposes personalities in various situations, and in various emotional states, as being central to a work of art.
Abstract art uses a visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an attempt to reproduce an illusion of visible reality. The arts of cultures other than the European had become accessible and showed alternative ways of describing visual experience to the artist. By the end of the 19th century many artists felt a need to create a new kind of art which would encompass the fundamental changes taking place in technology, science and philosophy. The sources from which individual artists drew their theoretical arguments were diverse, and reflected the social and intellectual preoccupations in all areas of Western culture at that time.
Mumbiram is a painter and author from India known for his leadership of the Rasa Renaissance art movement. He is best known for his renderings, in charcoal and colour media, of the folk people of India in real-life situations. As contemporary classical painter, Mumbiram has introduced an indigenous art movement and created the Manifesto of Personalism. His concept of personalism in art has proliferated into the Rasa Renaissance movement that is based on the classical rasa theory of Sanskrit literature. It is a theory of aesthetics that puts the quality of human emotions that a work of art or literature arouses as the criterion of its excellence. Mumbiram is also known for his prema vivarta work of euphorisms, Deluges of Ecstasy, composed during his 12 years in the United States.
