Indian art

(3rd millennium BC.)

Geographically, it spans the entire Indian subcontinent, including what is now India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The origin of Indian art can be traced to pre-historic Hominid settlements in the 3rd millennium BC. On its way to modern times, Indian art has had cultural influences (e.g., Indus Valley and Hellenistic), as well as religious influences such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Islam. In spite of this complex mixture of religious traditions.

In historic art, sculpture in stone and metal, mainly religious, has survived the Indian climate better than other media, and provides most of the best remains.

Indian funeral and philosophic traditions exclude grave goods, which are a main source of ancient art in other cultures.

Important work of artspainting

has a very long tradition and history in Indian art. The earliest Indian paintings were the rock paintings of pre-historic times, the petroglyphs.

Indian paintings provide an aesthetic continuum that extends from the early civilization to the present day.

Indian painting has evolved over the years to become a fusion of various cultures and traditions.

Rock art

Bhimbetka rock painting showing man riding on horse.

The earliest example of are the petrogylphs such as found in bhimbetka,some of them older than 5500 BC.

Genres of Indian paintingMurals

The history of Indian murals starts in ancient and early medieval times, from the 2nd century BC to 8th – 10th century AD. There are known more than 20 locations around India containing murals from this period, mainly natural caves and rock-cut chambers.

A mural painting depicting a scene from MahajanakaJataka, Cave 1, Ajanta

Paintings of Padmapani and Vajrapani on either side of the Buddha in Cave 1

A 17th-century Mughal painting

Mughal painting

Mughal painting is a particular style of Indian painting, generally confined to illustrations on the book and done in miniatures, and which emerged, developed and took shape during the period of the Mughal Empire 16th −19th centuries.

A folio from the Hamzanama

The Hamzanama, stories of Amir Hamza, an uncle of the Prophet, were illustrated by Mir Sayyid Ali. The paintings of the Hamzanama are of large size, 20 x 27" and were painted on cloth.

Rajput painting

An 18th-century Rajput painting by the artist Nihâl Chand

Rajput painting, a style of Indian painting, evolved and flourished, during the 18th century, in the royal courts of Rajputana, India. Each Rajput kingdom evolved a distinct style, but with certain common features.

Mysore painting

A painting of Laxmi

Mysore painting is an important form of classical South Indian painting that originated in the town of Mysore in Karnataka. These paintings are known for their elegance, muted colours and attention to detail.

Tanjore painting

Tanjore style painting depicting the ten Sikh Gurus with Bhai Bala and Bhai Mardana.

Tanjore painting is an important form of classical South Indian painting native to the town of Tanjore in Tamil Nadu. The art form dates back to the early 9th century, a period dominated by the Chola rulers, who encouraged art and literature.

Sculpture Large amounts of figurative sculpture, mostly in relief, survive from Early Buddhist pilgrimage stupas.

figures in bronze and stone are rare and greatly outnumbered by pottery figurines and stone seals.

These include the famous small bronze female dancer. However such figures in bronze and stone are rare and greatly outnumbered by pottery figurines and stone seals.

Sheshashayi Vishnu murti from 7th century AD on display at The Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai.

The Supreme God SvayamBhagavan of Vaishnavism (one of the three principal denominations) and one of the three supreme deities (Trimurti). He is also known as Narayana and Hari.

"The Dancing Girl", a bronze statuette.

A bronze statuette dubbed the "Dancing Girl", 10.5 centimetres (4.1 in) high and some 4,500 years old, was found in 'HR area' of Mohenjo-daro in 1926.

"The Priest-King", a seated stone sculpture

In 1927, a seated male soapstone figure was found in a building with unusually ornamental brickwork and a wall-niche. Though there is no evidence that priests or monarchs ruled Mohenjo-daro.

Architecturerooted in its history, culture and religion.

architectural methods practiced in India are a result of examination and implementation.

Eastern tradition has also incorporated modern values as India became a modern nation state.

Indus Valley Civilization (2700 BC-1700BC)Indus Valley is one of the world's earliest urban civilizations, along with its contemporaries, Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt.

the Indus Civilization may have had a population of well over five million. Inhabitants of the ancient Indus river valley developed new techniques in metallurgy and handicraft (carneol products, seal carving) and produced copper, bronze, lead, and tin.

A well and drainage system at Lothal

A bath and toilet excavated in Lothal

The baths and toilets system the cities had is acknowledged as one of the most advanced in the ancient world.

Post MahaJanapadas period (600 BC—200 AD)

The Great Stupa at Sanchi (4th–1st century BC).

The Buddhist stupa, a dome shaped monument, was used in India as a commemorative monument associated with storing sacred relics.

Early Common Era—High Middle Ages (200 AD—1200 AD)

Māru-Gurjara Temple  

originated somewhere in sixth century in and around areas of Rajasthan. Māru-Gurjara Architecture show the deep understanding of structures and refined skills of Rajasthanicraftmen of bygone era.

Taj mahal-built by shah jehanFor his wife Muntaz mahal

Japanese art(10th millennium BC, to the present.)

covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture, ink painting and calligraphy on silk and paper, ukiyo-e paintings and woodblock prints, kiri-e, kirigami, origami, and more recently manga—modern Japanese cartooning and comics—along with a myriad of other types of works of art. It has a long history, ranging from the beginnings of human habitation in Japan, sometime in the 10th millennium BC, to the present.

Japan has been subject to sudden invasions of new and alien ideas followed by long periods of minimal contact with the outside world. Over time the Japanese developed the ability to absorb, imitate, and finally assimilate

Paintingis one of the oldest and most highly refined of the Japanese visual arts, encompassing a wide variety of genres and styles.

Japanese painting exhibits synthesis and competition between native Japanese aesthetics and the adaptation of imported ideas, mainly from Chinese painting which was especially influential at a number of points.

Areas of subject matter where Chinese influence has been repeatedly significant include Buddhist religious painting, ink-wash painting of landscapes in the Chinese literati painting tradition.

E-maki: In the last century of the Heian period, the horizontal, illustrated narrative handscroll, known as e-maki ( lit. "picture scroll"), came to the fore. Dating from about 1130, the Genji Monogatari Emaki, a famous illustrated Tale of Genji represents the earliest surviving yamato-e handscroll, and one of the high points of Japanese painting.

Panel from The Tale of Genji handscroll

classic work of Japanese literature written by the noblewoman and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu in the early years of the 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be considered a classic.

Siege of Sanjō Palace

was the primary battle of the 1159 Heiji Rebellion. In early January 1160, after Taira no Kiyomori left Kyoto on a family pilgrimage, Fujiwara no Nobuyori and Minamoto no Yoshitomo saw an opportunity to effect changes they sought in the government.

Pair of screens with tigers and storm-dragon by Kanō Sanraku, 17th century, each 1.78 x 3.57 metres.

Set of sliding doors of Plum tree by Kanō SanrakuKanō Sanraku -1559 - September 30, 1635) was a Japanese painter also known as Kimura Heizō (his birth name), Shūri, Mitsuyori, and Sanraku.Sanraku's works combine the forceful quality of Momoyama work with the tranquil depiction of nature, and they have a more refined use of color typical of the Edo period.

Sculpture started from the clay figure. Japanese sculpture received the influence of the Silk Road culture in the 5th century, and received a strong influence from Chinese sculpture afterwards.

The sculptures were made at local shops, used for sculpting and painting. Most sculptures were found at areas in front of houses and along walls of important buildings.

Most of the Japanese sculptures derived from the idol worship in Buddhism or animistic rites of Shinto deity. In particular, sculpture among all the arts came to be most firmly centered on Buddhism.

Materials traditionally used were metal especially bronze and, more commonly, wood, often lacquered, gilded, or brightly painted.

Primitive artsIs seeing a wide ascendancy and spontaneity and seek to produce a similar artless artistry in their own works. In every instance examples of ancient primitive art have been found to possess characteristics identical to modern arts; and the ancient Japanese clay figures known as dogū.

Shakōki-dogū (1000–400 BCE)

dogū created in the Jōmon era, and are so well known that when most Japanese hear the termdogū, this is the image that comes to mind. The name "shakōki" (literally "light-blocking device")

Dogū, Ebisuda Site in Tajiri, Miyagi Prefecture, 1000–400 BC.

Dogu type

Figurine Dogū, Jomon. Musée Guimet

Amida Buddha Byōdō-in by Jōchō

Pure Land sect(Amida Worship) leader Genshin and his work Ōjōyōshū influenced many sculpture. The masterpiece is the Amida Buddha in Byōdō-in in Uji by the master Jōchō.

Enku, Buddha

The reconstruction of Buddhist temples fired in civil wars required the sculptors. The new sculptures were mostly conservative carved from wood and gilt or polychromed. They mostly lack artistic power. However, some Buddhist monk sculptors produced unpainted, roughly hewn images of wood. Enku(1632–1695).

Architecturehas traditionally been typified by wooden

structures, elevated slightly off the ground, with tiled or thatched roofs. Sliding doors (fusuma) were used in place of walls, allowing the internal configuration of a space to be customized for different occasions.

The introduction into Japan of Buddhism in the sixth century was a catalyst for large-scale temple building using complicated techniques in wood.

The general structure is almost always the same: posts and lintels support a large and gently curved roof, while the walls are paper-thin, often movable and in any case non-carrying. Arches and barrel roofs are completely absent.

The roof is the dominant feature of traditional Japanese architecture.

During the three phases of the Jōmon period the population was primarily hunter-gatherer with some primitive agriculture skills and their behaviour was predominantly determined by changes in climatic conditions and other natural stimulants.

Early dwellings were pit houses consisting of shallow pits with tamped earth floors and grass roofs designed to collect rainwater with the aid of storage jars.

Reconstructed pit dwelling houses in Yoshinogari, Saga Prefecture 2nd or 3rd century

Reconstructed dwellings in Yoshinogari

Reconstructed grain storehouse in Toro, Shizuoka

Reconstructed raised-floor building inYoshinogari

Typical machiya in Nara

machiya (townhouses) had been around since the Heian period they began to be refined during the Edo period. Machiya typically occupied deep, narrow plots abutting the street (the width of the plot was usually indicative of the wealth of the owner), often with a workshop or shop on the ground floor.

Rokumeikan at its completion in 1883

A large two-story building in Tokyo, completed in 1883, which was to become a controversial symbol of Westernisation in the Meiji period. Commissioned for the housing of foreign guests by the Foreign Minister Inoue Kaoru, it was designed by Josiah Conder.

Kaichi Primary School, Matsumoto, built in 1876

Kaichi Primary School in Nagano Prefecture built in 1876. The master carpenter Tateishi Kiyoshige travelled to Tōkyō to see which Western building styles were popular and incorporated these in the school with traditional building methods.

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