National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA)

Subject – Art and Culture

Context – On Republic Day, work by 500 artists to celebrate heroes of freedom struggle

Concept –

On January 26, as India celebrates its 73rd Republic Day, the festivities will also include a tribute to its freedom fighters. In an open gallery at Rajpath, the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) will showcase gigantic scrolls, each over 750 metres long, painted by over 500 artists from across India.
Largely painted during art camps held over the last month, apart from portraits and figurative narratives, the scrolls also reflect traditional art genres such as Pattachitra, TalapatraChitra, Manjusha, Madhubani, and Patua.

About National Gallery of Modern Art

The National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) is the premier art gallery under Ministry of Culture, Government of India.
The main museum at Jaipur House in New Delhi was established on 29 March 1954 by the Government of India, with subsequent branches at Mumbai and Bangalore.
Its collection of more than 1700 works by 2000 plus artists includes artists such as Thomas Daniell, Raja Ravi Verma, Abanindranath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Jamini Roy, Amrita Sher-Gil as well as foreign artists.
Some of the oldest works preserved here date back to 1857.
With 12,000 square meters of exhibition space, the Delhi branch is one of the world’s largest modern art museums.
The scrolls also refer to the artwork in the Constitution of India, with margins on the panels inspired by the artwork of Nandalal Bose and his associates, who illustrated the handcrafted document.

Pattachitra

To know about Pattachitra, please refer July 2021 DPN.

The paintings of Odisha can be divided into three categories from the point of view of medium, i.e. paintings on cloth or ‘PattaChitra’, paintings on walls or ‘BhittiChitra’ and palm leaf engravings or “Tala PatraChitra’ or “PothiChitra’.
The style of all these remains more or less the same at a specific time.

Manjusha

Manjusha Art is folk art of Ang region which is based on Folklore of Bihula-Bishari. Ang region in modern era known as Bhagalpur. It is one of the popular art form of Bihar.
The name Manjusa is also associated with an elaborate story, a goddess and also a festival celebrated in Bhagalpur.
The Sanskrit word “Manjusa”means a box and Manjusas are temple shaped boxes, made of bamboo, Jute-Straw and Paper inside which the devotees keep their ceremonial materials.
These boxes are however illustrated with paintings that tell a tale. The tale is that of Bihula who saved her husband from the deity’s wrath and a snake-bite and also of Bishahari or Mansa, the snake goddess known for her anger when displeased but also her fierce protectiveness when propitiated.
In Manjusha Art borders are very important, every painting must contains one or more border in it.
Manjusha art is very vibrant and eye catching design & Colours.

Madhubani

To know about Madhubani paintings, please refer October 2021 DPN.

Patua

The Patua are an artisan community found in the state of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha in India and parts of Bangladesh. Some Patuas are Hindus, while others are Muslims.
Hindu Patuas are active in the Kalighat and Kumartuli regions of Calcutta, along with some other parts of West Bengal.
The paintings tradition of Patuas was started as a village tradition as painters of scrolls or pats telling the popular mangal stories of the gods and goddesses.
The Patua painters or scroll painters have gone from village to village with their scrolls or pat singing stories in return for money or food.
These pats or scrolls are made of sheets of paper of equal or different sizes which are sown together and painted with ordinary poster paints.