आदि काल से
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
Sohrai Art of West Bengal
History:
According to ancient mythology, Marang Buru (God of mountain), Jaher Era ( Goddess of forest) and the eleder sister of the santhals, would descend on earth from heaven to pay a visit to their brothers. To commemorate of this event the harvest festival is celebrated at this time. The women of the house clean their houses and decorate their walls with murals of sohrai arts. This art form has thus been continuing since ancient times, around 10,000 BC- 4,ooo BC onwards . This was prevalent mostly in caves but now has been primarily shifted to houses with mud walls.
Medium:
This Sohrai art form which is used to decorate the walls is usually monochromatic or extremely colorful. The tribals coat the wall with a layer of white mud , and while the layer is still wet ,they scrape with their fingertips on it. The designs that they draw out may range from flowers and fruits to various other designs inspired from nature . In this way , the cowdung which has earlier used to cake the walls of the house are used to add to the colour of the designs of sohrai Art. In this way the the dark outline thus scraped on the walls is clearly visible due to the contrating white mud coat previously applied on the walls. These Sohrai artists are very spontaneous in their drawing, and there is not much of preplanning to this art. The canvases range from 12 feet x18 feet to feet to something smaller in scale. They don't plan it out with layouts, the designs are usually drawn from the artist's memory . The personal experience of the artiest , and their interaction with nature are the biggest inflence on this art form. the harvest festivals is the time of the year when they succesfully manage to exhibit their artistic skills and expressions.
This art form is usually carried out by housewives, little girls-educated and uneducated, who draw inspiration from their everyday interaction with nature. This form of art is not something that they can pickup from schools or academic instititions. It is art which is derived from the study of nature and its surroundings . Every year, aftter thefestival is over, all these drawings and patterns created during this time are erased.
Place:
From 2010-12 , during my visits to Purulia , I found an infinite sense of energy and an unearthly enthusiasm surrounding the spirit of this art form. Which is strait from the people's hearts. While drawings in this art form , there is no room for error, since there is no means of corrections mistakes after making a wrongly drawn design. I was even more shocked when I saw taht there was a 20 feet x 12 feet mural scraped on the wall of one such house in purulia. One coating of white clay is usualy used to cover the wall of around 3 feet x 4 feet . So, upon seeing such a huge mural, I was definitly stunned to see the scale in which it was executed. It was amagine at what speed she must have worked to have finished off this extensive wall painting.
Elements:
Cow, poultry, bafallo, pecocks, cranes, elephants, pigeons are elements which are common subjects of Sohrai art. Besides these lotus, hibiscus, leaves, fishes, trees and other foliage trees like palm tree, kadam etc. These artists also keep pepeating the patterns on other walls so taht there is an illusion of movment, very decorative and some times un realistic., which add to the lifelike characteristic of the drawing . they Paint sceneries of ponds, lakes and rivers, where in there are a lots of birds, fishes, fauna and lots of other natural elements. the picture is finally framend with a wavy border which is drawn with four fingers. The style of the art form keeps varying from place to place, where in the same or similar elements are picked up but are manipulated to suit the artist's convenience. They don't bother much about the color, composition and the elements. The variations may be in the form of the style of the borders, elements selection, and even the form which natural elements are represented. Every artist has his /her own sense of visualisation . I the forms and elements are taken up for research, it will sum up to become n ocean of reference and knowledge regarding this art form. This art form should not be preserved only for decorative purposes, but it needs to be given a direction or motive for existence.
Colors:
In preparation of the Sohrai art, mud walls are caked with the cow dung thrice, after they cake it with darker clay which is acquired from ponds, and later with refined white clay. This results in a gradation while craping with the finger while making the art. They use naturally earthy colours which maybe derived from mineral and vegetable sources. Some colors which are harder to derived are bought the market as well. The surrounding nature is the constant source of inspiration for the artist in their thoughts and culture to integrate them in their drawing and art forms. this art is born from nature and is a direct derivation of the people's experiences and interaction with it.
Development:
It is necessary to give this art form a new identity and motivation, because the artist do not realise the importance of their art form and also to preserve it. The art form is similar to the " Kantha" art form developed in bengal, with only a slight difference in medium by documenting this , we can develop a new line of storytelling which can be used in animation , sculpture and other art forms. This art form can also be given a role in giving people jobs and thus help in the rise of their economy.
According to ancient mythology, Marang Buru (God of mountain), Jaher Era ( Goddess of forest) and the eleder sister of the santhals, would descend on earth from heaven to pay a visit to their brothers. To commemorate of this event the harvest festival is celebrated at this time. The women of the house clean their houses and decorate their walls with murals of sohrai arts. This art form has thus been continuing since ancient times, around 10,000 BC- 4,ooo BC onwards . This was prevalent mostly in caves but now has been primarily shifted to houses with mud walls.
Medium:
This Sohrai art form which is used to decorate the walls is usually monochromatic or extremely colorful. The tribals coat the wall with a layer of white mud , and while the layer is still wet ,they scrape with their fingertips on it. The designs that they draw out may range from flowers and fruits to various other designs inspired from nature . In this way , the cowdung which has earlier used to cake the walls of the house are used to add to the colour of the designs of sohrai Art. In this way the the dark outline thus scraped on the walls is clearly visible due to the contrating white mud coat previously applied on the walls. These Sohrai artists are very spontaneous in their drawing, and there is not much of preplanning to this art. The canvases range from 12 feet x18 feet to feet to something smaller in scale. They don't plan it out with layouts, the designs are usually drawn from the artist's memory . The personal experience of the artiest , and their interaction with nature are the biggest inflence on this art form. the harvest festivals is the time of the year when they succesfully manage to exhibit their artistic skills and expressions.
This art form is usually carried out by housewives, little girls-educated and uneducated, who draw inspiration from their everyday interaction with nature. This form of art is not something that they can pickup from schools or academic instititions. It is art which is derived from the study of nature and its surroundings . Every year, aftter thefestival is over, all these drawings and patterns created during this time are erased.
Place:
From 2010-12 , during my visits to Purulia , I found an infinite sense of energy and an unearthly enthusiasm surrounding the spirit of this art form. Which is strait from the people's hearts. While drawings in this art form , there is no room for error, since there is no means of corrections mistakes after making a wrongly drawn design. I was even more shocked when I saw taht there was a 20 feet x 12 feet mural scraped on the wall of one such house in purulia. One coating of white clay is usualy used to cover the wall of around 3 feet x 4 feet . So, upon seeing such a huge mural, I was definitly stunned to see the scale in which it was executed. It was amagine at what speed she must have worked to have finished off this extensive wall painting.
Elements:
Cow, poultry, bafallo, pecocks, cranes, elephants, pigeons are elements which are common subjects of Sohrai art. Besides these lotus, hibiscus, leaves, fishes, trees and other foliage trees like palm tree, kadam etc. These artists also keep pepeating the patterns on other walls so taht there is an illusion of movment, very decorative and some times un realistic., which add to the lifelike characteristic of the drawing . they Paint sceneries of ponds, lakes and rivers, where in there are a lots of birds, fishes, fauna and lots of other natural elements. the picture is finally framend with a wavy border which is drawn with four fingers. The style of the art form keeps varying from place to place, where in the same or similar elements are picked up but are manipulated to suit the artist's convenience. They don't bother much about the color, composition and the elements. The variations may be in the form of the style of the borders, elements selection, and even the form which natural elements are represented. Every artist has his /her own sense of visualisation . I the forms and elements are taken up for research, it will sum up to become n ocean of reference and knowledge regarding this art form. This art form should not be preserved only for decorative purposes, but it needs to be given a direction or motive for existence.
Colors:
In preparation of the Sohrai art, mud walls are caked with the cow dung thrice, after they cake it with darker clay which is acquired from ponds, and later with refined white clay. This results in a gradation while craping with the finger while making the art. They use naturally earthy colours which maybe derived from mineral and vegetable sources. Some colors which are harder to derived are bought the market as well. The surrounding nature is the constant source of inspiration for the artist in their thoughts and culture to integrate them in their drawing and art forms. this art is born from nature and is a direct derivation of the people's experiences and interaction with it.
Development:
It is necessary to give this art form a new identity and motivation, because the artist do not realise the importance of their art form and also to preserve it. The art form is similar to the " Kantha" art form developed in bengal, with only a slight difference in medium by documenting this , we can develop a new line of storytelling which can be used in animation , sculpture and other art forms. This art form can also be given a role in giving people jobs and thus help in the rise of their economy.
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