Paintings of Andhra Pradesh - Andhra Pradesh PCS Exam Notes

Paintings of Andhra Pradesh

Indian paintings provide an artistic continuum that extends from the early civilization and culture to the present day.
From being essentially religious in purpose in the beginning, Indian painting has evolved over the years to become a fusion of various cultures and traditions.
The Indian painting was exposed to Greco-Roman as well as Iranian and Chinese influences.

Classification of Indian Paintings

Indian Paintings can be broadly classified as the mural paintings and miniature painting.

Murals are huge works executed on the walls of solid structures, as in the Ajanta Caves and the Kailashnath temple. They are also called as wall paintings.
Miniature paintings are executed on a very small scale on perishable material such as paper and cloth.

Paintings of Andra Pradesh

Lepakshi Paintings of Andhra Pradesh

It is part of Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh.
It was the Beautiful paintings of Vijayanagar period.
It Provides glimpses of contemporary dress like tall headwear (Kulavi), colored and embroidered sarees of both men and women in the paintings.
Earth tones and complete absence of blue color in Lepakshi painting.
Costumes are outlined in blac

Deccani School of Miniature Paintings of Andhra Pradesh

Deccani painting denotes broadly the miniature painting from the 16th Century to the 19^th Century at Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Golkonda and Hyderabad, the former states that formed the region known as Deccan.
The rich colour scheme, the palm trees, animals and men and women all belong, to the

Deccani tradition and culture.

Early Deccani painting absorbed influences of the northern tradition of the pre-Mughal painting which was flourishing in Malwa, and of the southern tradition of the Vijayanagar murals as evident in the handling of female types and costumes.
Influence of the Persian painting is also observed in the handling of the horizon gold sky and landscape.

Cherial Paintings of Andhra Pradesh

Presenting wonderful work of art, Cherial folk Paintings of Andhra Pradesh express the narrative format through the rich color schemes.
Based on the themes of great epics, these paintings use customary techniques.
The Cherial paintings are made on cloth that may run to meters in its length.
Kako padagollu is a main community which uses Cherial paintings as one of the visual means to recite stories from Mahabharata and Ramayana.
At present the artists even make scroll paintings or Cherial paintings in smaller sizes on paper, plywood, cardboard and cloth.

Nirmal Paintings, Nirmal

Nirmal is a small town located at 89 kms from Adilabad in Adilabad district.
The artists themselves using cardboard and Luppam make the canvas.
The canvas is first painted black, which forms the background for all the Paintings.
Enamel and other plastic colours are used for these paintings, which lends them a glow.
Yet another important contribution of the Nirmal artists is their traditional designs on furniture.
The artists paint creepers, border designs and flowers on wooden chairs, tables and on cots, on almost all: furniture work, red and black colours are used lavishly, followed by yellow and green.
The Nirmal toy industry is an example of how collective effort can help an art to flourish.
This art, like all other art forms, has witnessed some changes, while holding on to some of its traditional designs, Though water colours and enamel colours have replaced natural colours, the artisans still use Painiki wood along with other locally available material.

Savara Paintings, Srikakulam

Srikakulam is 100 kms, from Visakhapatnam. ‘Savaras’ are ancient tribes living in the areas enjoined by the four states of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
On a wall-coloured red with red soil mixed paper in water, white paint prepared from rice powder and water are used Black colour is prepared with coconut ash mixed castor oil.
Tender bamboo twigs are used as brushes after chewing their ends very delicately. Actually, these paintings resemble the prehistoric rock art.
Triangular-shaped structures, which are very common in rock art, can be seen in Savara paintings.

Painting on Kalamkari Fabric (Kalamkari Painting)

The Kalamkari fabric contains the paintings of mythological figures and events with vegetable colours. Kalamkari sarees, kurti (tops), salwar-kameez, have become the order of the day and have become the popular costumes of Andhra Pradesh.
This particular art form is widespread in Machilipatnam of Andhra Pradesh. Urbanity in its refined form rules in the epicenter of superiority, Hyderabad.
The tempting mix of colors on cloth generally depicts characters from Indian mythology.
At the times of 17th and 18th centuries, this art of Kalamkari was very prominent and it was famous to such an extent that it spread its fame all across the country.
Kalamkari is present in Machilipatnam and Kalahasti.
The colors used for shading kalamkari paintings were extracted from vegetables.
Apart from the mythological themes, these paintings even showcased different forms of lotus flower, some beautiful designs of leaves and flowers, cartwheel and parrots.

Folk Painting in various region of Andra Pradesh

Folk paintings are essentially folk tales that are conventionally painted as wall hangings.
This art comes from Cherial in Warangaldistrict and other places in Telangana and Andra Pradesh.
The ideal themes for the paintings comprise of scenes from Ramayana, Mahabharata and other mythologies and from their stories.
Painted with affluent use of red, yellow, green and blue colors, they serve as ideal wall hangings.
The paintings look so realistic and artistic that it is believed that this special art has come down from Vishwakarma, the divine architect to the artisans on earth.

The Famous Art Of Leather Painting Work Of Andhra Pradesh

The shadow dance of puppets made up of leather is coming from olden times in Andhra Pradesh.
Images on the dead skin of animals are carved out for this in bright colours.
The heights of these leather made puppets are normally 6 feet.
These are cut-made in such manners that they can bend from wherever from hands, feet, waist, necks etc.
The natural colours, conventionally extracted from flowers and vegetables were being used to paint these leather puppets. But now, the artificial colours presented in the market are being used for paint works.
A thin splint of bamboo is tied around the puppet and jolted and fluttered with light hands in front of a white screen with the support of the bamboo splint. The audiences sitting in front of the screen take pleasure in this scene.
In the old days, the purohits used to communicate the lessons of religion and politics by showing the instances from the Ramayana or the Mahabharata to the village folk through the medium of these shadow dances.
The Anandpur and Kaninda districts of Andhra Pradesh are well-known for this leather Paintings of Andhra Pradesh art works the most.

Common Feature of Tribal Paintings in Andhra Pradesh

Wall Paintings of Andhra Pradesh

The tradition of wall paintings has been passed down from pre-historic times to today.
As society moved from forest dwellings to agricultural-based communities, the art of painting continued as a part of their life, tradition, culture and to transmit their traditional beliefs through their art.
Wall painting forms part of the universal culture of most agricultural societies and forest dwelling societies.
Paintings are done on walls to invoke the gods to bless the soil, keep animals healthy for work in the field, grant a family healthy progeny after marriage, and bless a newly constructed home.
Paintings found on the walls of religious buildings depict a human quest to understand a larger universe, natural life and power.

Current tradition of wall painting in Various Tribal Regions of Andhra Pradesh

In a wall painting or mural, the ground is the wall or the stone of the cave. Paint is applied on to the wall plaster. To bind the paint to the plaster the colours are often put on wet plaster so that it fuses with it.
In many tribal region and villages in India women apply wet lime paint to the dry mud walls. Lime is a natural disinfectant and prevents ants and termites inhabiting the walls.
As they use no adhesive the paint flakes and has to be redone every season, especially after the monsoons just before Dussehra and Diwali.
Wall painting also done during ceremonial function like Marriage.

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