Nomadic Narritives & Folk Art Flashcards
Why is subaltern (lower class/status) art less well known or preserved?
Because the less exspensive materials are also ones that are more ephemeral with shorter lifespans, also the histories and artworks of the Nomadic groups are often preserved more through oral traditions (The Oral Epic).
Why was Rajasthan so orientalised and romanticised?
Desert ruled by Rajputs who were often depicted riding horses as they were a staple of the Rajasthani higher caste, who were intergrated into the Mughal Empire as members of the Hindu elite. Mughal emperors marrying Rajput princesses.
The Oral Epic- Rajasthan/Rajput
Sung with a fiddle and bells around one’s ankles, it is narrated over 7 nights continuously and accompanying it is a sacred painting (fud) that is only unfurled at night. The artist and narrator are different, and it is a rectangular sheet with small blocks of images that have a particular viewing order.
The Gazi scroll- Patua
Bengal (mixed Hindu) and Bangladesh (mainly Muslim) both have narrower longer scrolls that are carefully unfurled to progressively depict one day at a time, one after the other. They depict everyday life and animals, rivers tigers and crocodiles. The Patua people were landless nomads who were labourers of mixed Hindu-Muslim identity.
What was the Folk asthetic?
No concern for naturalism or realism, space or perspective. Bright bold pallate that links more to pre-mughal influence art and before the persianate or european influence. Subject matter: matters of the court, leisure and pleasure as well as feminine beauty.
Compared to Folk Paintings in India, simmilar female sewn tappestries were made, why arent they as reveired? What were they called?
CALLED RUMALS-As women’s work is was deemed a craft, and far less valuable. The Rumals were used to cover offerings and other practical uses.
