Last Day, Last Show...

At DAG, Delhi, catch the Company Paintings that looks at how Indian artists responded to the demands of their Western patrons, creating entirely new templates of Indian art.

- PANKIL JHAJHRIA

BETWEEN the early 18th and late 19th century, the officials working with the East India Company commissioned local Indian artists to paint for them. These paintings later came to be known paintings'.

'Company Curated by author Giles Tillotson, around 200 such paintings are currently on display at the exhibition, 'A Treasury of Life: Indian Company Paintings, c. 1790 to 1835', at DAG art gallery.

The exhibition maps the new style and the adjustments Indian artists who once worked in royal courts and temples had to make to earn the new patronage. The exhibit has been divided into three sections-natural history, architecture, and Indian manners and customs. Soft brush strokes, use of opaque watercolour, and a toned-down colour palette are the defining features of this artwork.

For instance, an Asian fairybluebird is the subject of a painting titled 'Neelum Purree'.