Revival or death- Part-2.
And the great care the artist took
before starting as well as while doing the projects amounted to a religious
practice. Keeping the mind pure by visiting temples, praying, telling beads as
also meditating, the artist visualised the form of the deity to be painted and
executed it with respect and veneration. Such paintings looked alive and when
seen by anyone evoked great devotion.
Come the western mindset of
commercializing anything and everything, the occupiers of the country
encouraged the local artists to produce paintings introducing the western art
materials, new surfaces and reducing the size of paintings to wall murals to
miniatures to be taken to their own country as a memento or bounty.
In the process they not only commercialized the art form, but also instilled in
the minds of the artists a casual attitude towards the sacred art form. They
also instilled in our minds that these were related to caste system, and viola,
they won!
The son of the artist didn't want to pursue
the father's profession any more and sought better pastures. He wanted to
'educate' himself in the 'western' system of education and 'earn' working under
someone! Now the father started training people who have no interest in
education but wanted learn to earn.There started the slide and the dilution, no
need to mention here about the 'good hearted' souls, who wanted to promote a
dying art form. They became agents or middlemen of the illiterate artist and
made tons of money but leaving the artist poor and dejected.
Enter the scene, women who had everything
but wanted to enjoy the new freedom to venture out of the house due to western
education, started learning..This meant that whether they are capable of
learning or proficient in the art of drawing didn't matter. Everyone wanted to
make thanjavur painting now, for reasons...
1. It was proving to be expensive to buy one, being labor
intensive,
2. If they learnt it they can make paintings for themselves
and who knows ...can even sell them .
The worst scenario came when all wanted to learn
which triggered the urge in everyone to teach also. Anyway, the balance swings
in favor of the demand & supply ratio is it not? So, anyone who learnt to
make one or two paintings, could not resist from sharing the half-baked
knowledge with others who didn't even realize the sacredness of painting god's
pictures. The result is the present sad situation. I don't want to be
judgmental, but it is heart breaking to see people posting photo after photo of
their amateurish work.
Recently one of my acquaintances sent me a picture
of a black & white xerox copy of a figure stuck on a board and the
embossing work done over that. Now I am wondering what is going to be next?
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