Tribal Art of India – Gond Art

brainartadmin — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 18:05:30 +0000

Gond art is a form of painting made by Gond Tribe. One of the major tribal communities of Central India, the Gond; that inhabits part of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh & parts of Maharashtra. These regions are rich in cultural legacy and have distinctive art & craft. Gond People dwell in nature with their inherent artistic skill & represent the magic of colourful forms with dots and lines. This research paper tries to put forward and ethnographic study of Gond tribal art of Patangarh District of Madhya Pradesh, its tradition, present scenario, and the effort made by various institutions / Government agencies to rejuvenate the heritage and create livelihood for these artisans.

The word “Gond” comes from the Dravidian expression kond, meaning “the green mountain.” The work of Gond artists is rooted in their folk tales and culture, and thus story-telling is a strong element of every painting.

Origin of Gond Art

Gond Kingdoms situated in the northern, central and southern parts of India. With the advent of Mughal and company power (British Rule) in India, they were gradually deprived of their kingdoms and their land and their existence was truly vulnerable. The Pardhans’ practice of music and song was lost during Mughal rule and continued to sink during the British rule when members of the Gond tribe clashed with British colonialists. There was also an attempt to strip the tribal’s of their wealth with stringent revenue taxes and land laws. In The Folk Songs of Chhattisgarh, (1946), translated by Verrier Elwin and Shamrao Hivale, in there book “Songs of the forest; the folk poetry of the Gonds” , one song goes:

“In this kingdom of the English
How hard it is to live
To pay the cattle tax
We have sell a cow
To pay the forest tax
We have to sell a bullock
How are we to get our food?”
(Ministry of Panchayati Raj, 2008).

Gonds voiced their agony through their songs. Through their festivals and rituals, songs and dances, they remained ingrained in their culture. But their young men started moving out towards cities in search of livelihood. When the social standing of the Gonds dwindled, the provisions they formerly made for the Pardhans as the chroniclers of family histories and mythologists died out. The Pardhan community gave up past bard traditions and had to unfortunately resort to manual and menial labor in order to survive.

Global Influence

As a result of the efforts by the Indian Government to promote and showcase the beauty of tribal art, Gond paintings have become quite popular. There have been exhibitions of Gond paintings in many parts of the world, especially in Japan. Gond paintings can sell for anywhere between INR 2,000/- and INR 2,50,000/-

Style of Gond: Lines and Dots

Gond art is basically linear art with a wide variety of lines and small dots. Gond artists draw the outline with utmost care. Similarly the filling is also done with thin and tiny strokes and dots. After the flat color application is completed then the lines with other colors are added which totally transform the imagery with utmost perfection. Eyes of the spectator harmoniously slip from one point to another with the flowy movement of lines. Dots and dashes add minute details to art work. Bright and vivid color scheme increase the beauty of folk lore.

At BrainArt Our classes not only includes the technique but also the information related to every art that you learn wether its Indian Art, western or Far eastern art history. Understanding the origin & history gives everyone better understand of the art. Come join us for regular short or long term course.

Few Interesting Facts !

The Pardhan Gonds are also are accomplished singers and many paintings are visual depictions of these songs.
Gond paintings are popularly drawn during major festivals like Holi, Diwali, etc.
Gond paintings are of such a good quality that it isn’t uncommon for them to last 20 years or so, without any external tampering.
It is said that Gond paintings resemble aboriginal art from Australia. Gond art is also known as aboriginal art of India
Gond paintings have also become quite common on wooden trays, boxes and other miscellaneous objects which have helps to increase its popularity and spread awareness.

Warli Folk Art of India

brainartadmin — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 08:33:44 +0000

Warli art is a easiest art for kids to start with. Kids can easily relate to simple geometrical figures that warli art consist of. One of the great way to teach kids about Lines, Shapes, dots and circles. Its very easy to get attention of kids with vibrant colors and simple warli art. Our class objective to teach about origin of folk art warli, composition with lines or stick figures. Great activity for kids to create and draw story from here imagination.

Warli folk Art History

Warli painting originated in Maharashtra, where it is still in practice today. The warli tribe is one of the largest tribe in india which is located outside of Mumbai. In 1970, these paintings were recognised, even though this style of Art is date back as early as 10 century A.D. The idea of warli centred around the concept of Mother Nature and parts of nature.

Farming was the main source of life for this tribe. Since the nature precedes the resources for life they respect nature and wildlife. clay hut used as canvas by artist’s, same as how ancient people used the cave walls as their canvases.

This art uses set of basic geometric shapes like circle, triangle, lines and square. These shapes were different elements of nature. Circles represented sun and moon while triangle represented mountains and pointed trees. In ritual paintings festivals and dances were common. People and animals represented by two inverse triangles joined at there tip. Warli also represent day to day life and activities of village people.

One of the aspects that this art depicts is the ‘Tarpa dance. Tarpa is a trumpet-like instruments played by village mens in turns. Men and women entwine there and hands and move in circle around the Tarpa player. Formation of circle by men and women in village said resemblance of circle of life.

Objective of Class activity

Introducing folk art of Indian tribal Art Warli. This art class children will investigate the motivations, uses and traditions of this art and create their own self-inspired drawings in form of story. Class objectives:

Introducing line drawing – composition with line drawing / stick figures
Paper recycling – using old newspapers to create the backdrop/canvas
Weaving
Create art supported their own narrative by group action with a number of their most valued recollections or life experiences.
Using acrylic paints or oil pastels on paper (recycle news paper using paper mache technique) and using technique like mixing & Smudging to create artwork
Learn how to use pattern and repetition to assist recreate a true sensory experience in a very two-dimensional work space by observing samples of Warli paintings and the way they successfully used those techniques in their work.

Looking for Online / Offline Art classes for Kids ?

Get in touch with us, We are located in HSR Layout, Sector 2, Bangalore

indian folk art – BrainArt