This site is dedicated to the Indian contemporary Painters. It contains the details of Indian artists, their styles, famous works by them and their personal Studios/web sites. It also features Indian art galleries & museums.

History of Indian Art

Paintings in India revolved with the religious deities and kings. These paintings varied from large frescoes of Ellora to the intricate Mughal miniature paintings. In Rajasthan, it developed around Mewar which was mostly inspired by various scenes from Indian mythology. Major centers of miniatures, namely Kishangarh, Udaipur , Jaipur and Marwar have their own styles of depicting religious and court scenes.

Rajput painting, a style of Indian painting, evolved and flourished, during the 18th century, in the royal courts of Rajputana. Each Rajput kingdom evolved a distinct style, but with certain common features. Rajput paintings depict a number of themes, events of epics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, Krishna' life, beautiful landscapes and humans. Miniatures were the preferred medium of Rajput paintings, but several manuscripts also contain Rajput paintings, and paintings were even done on the walls of palaces, inner chambers of the forts, havelies, particularly the havelis of Shekhawat

The colors extracted from certain minerals, plant sources, conch shells, and were even derived by processing precious stones, gold and silver were used. The preparation of desired colors was a lengthy process, sometimes taking weeks. Brushes used were very find.

The earliest Indian paintings were the rock paintings of pre-historic times, the petroglyphs. From the 1990s onwards, artists began to multiply the forms they used in their work. It remained important, though in the work of leading artists they often found radical new directions. Crucially, however, in a complex time when the number of currents affecting Indian society seemed to multiply, many artists sought out new, more poly vocal and impressive forms of expression.