Thought behind the thought:
Recently on one of my trips to Chettinad, in South India I got a chance to see original Tanjore style paintings of goddesses, by Raja Ravi Verma, so claimed the owner of the house! Being a traditional Chettinad home it had treasures from the world over. Italian marble, original Venetian tiles, Burma teak columns with intricate details, Belgian glass chandeliers and what have you! There in the middle of all the treasures from the world over, were the paintings. The owner turned off the lights in the hall and the paintings literally radiated in the dark room in front of our eyes. My students tried every possible photography technique to capture that radiance without the use of a flash but couldn’t do justice to what the actual feeling was. Some things have to be experienced and cannot be captured in the lens. We all sat there, in complete silence, in awe of the painting and tried to capture it in our memory.
Painting of Vayu
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Processional scene with Amar Singh, ruler of Thanjavur and Sarabhoji
Venugopala Krishna flanked by Gopikas
About the Art
Tanjore or Tanjavur paintings hail from the Tanjavur city in south India. Dating back to the 9th century, Chola rulers encouraged this art form and gave it patronage. Tanjore paintings are an extremely unique art style, in which a lot of attention is given to detail. Vivid colours, bright sparkling gems, precious and semiprecious materials are used in the construction of the paintings. The process of making these paintings is extremely laborious and needs expertise. Normally the paintings have Hindu deities as the primary subject. Well bodied and radiant, the subjects of the paintings always grab the attention in spite of all the embellishments and finery around it. The treatment is such that even in a dark room the radiance exuding from the subject cannot be taken away. Credits:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanjore_painting
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