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UPMSP High School Art (Drawing) study materials
UPMSP High School Art (Drawing) study resources

UPMSP High School Art (Drawing): Indian Art History and Appreciation

UPMSP High School Art (Drawing) · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

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Indian Art History and Appreciation

The theory paper tests named periods, schools and artists, and the ability to write a short appreciation of a work using the correct vocabulary: subject, style, technique, composition, colour and mood.

Landmarks to know

  • Prehistoric rock paintings at Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh): hunting and dance scenes in red and white, drawn on shelter walls.
  • Indus Valley seals in steatite, with animal motifs and a seated figure.
  • Ajanta (Aurangabad, Maharashtra): Buddhist cave paintings from about the 2nd century BCE to the 5th century CE, including Jataka narratives and the Bodhisattva Padmapani, painted on lime plaster.
  • Ellora, including the rock-cut Kailasa temple; Gupta and Chola bronzes and sculpture.
  • Mughal miniature painting: the atelier organized under Akbar, naturalism under Jahangir, with Mansur known for plants and animals and Abul Hasan for portraits; the Akbarnama and Hamzanama manuscripts.
  • Rajasthani schools: Mewar, Bundi and Kota for nature studies, Kishangarh for the Bani Thani figure.
  • Pahari schools: bold Basohli, then the softer Guler and Kangra styles of the 18th century.
  • Raja Ravi Varma (1848–1906), oil paintings of mythological subjects and the printing press; Abanindranath Tagore (1871–1951) and the Bengal School wash technique; Nandalal Bose at Santiniketan; Amrita Sher-Gil (1913–1941); Jamini Roy's folk-inspired figures.

Worked example

A short appreciation of a Mughal miniature. First name the subject and the moment shown; then describe the composition (figures placed to one side, a high horizon, a garden or terrace setting); then line (fine, even brushwork), colour (flat mineral pigments with gold), technique (opaque watercolour on paper, wasli mount), and mood (formal, courtly). Attribution should come last and only if certain. The reasoning: appreciation is analysis of the visible work, not a biography of the artist.

Traps

Writing an artist's life instead of analysing the work, mixing Rajasthani and Pahari schools, wrong centuries, and inventing a date or a name when unsure.