The Kalighat Edit | The People’s Craftsman

Superimposed against the motifs in this artwork is Jamini Roy, an artist who was intimately involved in sculpting the future of the Kalighat art form. The 20th-century artist hailing from West Bengal, though trained in the classical western genre, returned to his roots to develop the Kalighat art style.

Exploring myriad themes like Santhali life and general village life, Roy, often depicted nature, plants and musical instruments. He believed in making art accessible to the common man and also opted out of European paints to use organic sources for pigment creation like flowers, indigo, alluvial mud and much more. Seven vibrant and earthy colours dominated his palette – blue, Indian red, cadmium green, cadmium green, vermillion, grey, ochre and white.

One of his most famous works, present in this composition, features a child, in their mother’s embrace, symbolic of one of the first and strongest bonds that exist. His magnum opus, however, remains the Ramayana; crafted in 1946 and spread over 17 canvases, it traces the journey of the entire Indian epic.

Amidst the turbulent landscape of the British Raj, Jamini Roy, also turned his attention to satirical representations of the ruling class. He is known for the recurring motif of a cat with a crayfish in his mouth, originally, a satirical jibe at Brahman priests who preach vegetarianism, while themselves consuming meat.

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