Differing in styles and united by a common geography, the newly opened exhibition on Bengal art, Babu and Bazaar, is a brilliant reflection of Calcutta of yesteryear. Beginning in the 19th century, the city was the commercial center of British India and its only port. The Hooghly River was crowded with ships, a testimony to the brisk trade in fine textiles, tea, jute, opium and rice.

It was truly a city of contrasts: of the extremely rich and the very poor. Where black Victorian shoes were worn dhoti And the courtesans were adorned in sarees and jewelery and were carrying lace umbrellas. Nouveau riche – designated as Baboo – English educated, indifferent towards his country and busy in pursuing his own pleasures. Conversely, the market and its industrious merchants catered to the crowds of pilgrims, soldiers and new immigrants at Kalighat, giving rise to a cosmopolitan Calcutta.

Artists used to sit around the Kali temple, who are called Patuaaswho built Kalighat Pat. What began as paintings on cloth later became watercolors on paper that became sought after as souvenirs. Particularly popular were humorous paintings of Bengali men sitting idly in black coats, beaten by wives, or having a secret love affair. With the express aim of pleasing its patrons, the art coalesced into a genre called Kalighat painting, which is a unique blend of styles, mediums and inspirations.

Drawn from the 19th and 20th centuries, the art in the exhibition is compiled into three broad sections: Original Kalighat pats and its inspired prints, lithographs and oleographs, often with jewelery and costume borrowed from communities across India; Oil paintings on canvas inspired by Kalighat themes and promoting the nouveau riche; and a reverse glass painting made by the artist in Canton (Guangzhou, China), another British trading center, in the hope of finding a new market in India.

Here is a selection from the exhibition:

The idol of Goddess Lakshmi is pan-Indian. Here, he is shown sitting cross-legged on a lotus and two elephants on either side showering him with water from a vessel. Note the quintessential Kalighat style of watercolor on paper and a plain background – and, fascinatingly, an ink pen note by the owner, possibly in a foreign, scribbled hand: “A beautiful woman seated on a lotus. She is the goddess of wealth.” She is a goddess.”

Gajalakshmi

Goddess Kali of Calcutta The fierce goddess Kali is depicted as a wrathful Dakshina Kali standing over a reclining Shiva in this oil on canvas painting. Her stunning jewellery, including lots of gold jewelery and a tiara inspired by traditional Bengali solar crown, also includes a bloody skull necklace and a waistband of the severed arms of his enemies around his waist. Its bejeweled grandeur, highlighted in gold, is a reflection of the inter-cultural nature of the city.

Dakshina Kali

With strong Vaishnavite influence, this Rath Yatra depicts the journey of Lord Krishna and his brother Balarama leaving their home in Gokul. Dramatic in scope, as the women mourn the loss of their loved ones, the painting indicates many of the influences of 19th-century Bengal. Women’s attire inspired by Rajasthan lehenga-choliAnd a columned white mansion peeking from the upper right reflects the city’s rapidly changing architecture.

Chariot Festival

damaged watercolor fathers Were popular. 19th century Calcutta was a city of wealthy people, who were always drunk and enjoying its many offerings. These paintings, which were usually meant to titillate, also reflected the changing lifestyle of the time, where new furniture and accessories – e.g. BabooVictorian shoes – were making an appearance.

Calcutta fathers

There were two distinct cultures in 19th century Bengal. While White Calcutta was busy trying to look like a city of the British Empire, replete with colonial architecture and urban spaces, native Black Calcutta lived in poor neighborhoods. Disease was rampant here as well as social exclusion on the basis of caste and social taboos. Widows, known for their white sarees with black borders, were abandoned, unemployed and often forced to beg outside temples or forced into prostitution. This erotica was ironically called ‘Sundari‘The pictures above and the pair – one decorating herself and the other preparing paan for a customer – tell a silent story of survival.

Sundari

A classic Kalighat to PatIt shows a beauty in her daily toilette, putting a flower in her hair. Alta Palms stained with color. Note the semi-erotic gesture and abundant jewellery. Later artists were directly influenced by its style and themes. Patuas, For example, the Bengali modernist painter Jamini Roy styled his iconography in a manner similar to this painting – with a similar pose, jewelery and clothing – reinterpreting the subject with its remarkable graphic lines.

a Kalighat to Pat

This glass painting was probably made in Canton and is a wonderful example of inter-cultural trade between artists and their inspirations. to Pat The paintings spread to the ports where trading ships traveled from Calcutta and were quickly reinterpreted by local artists in the hope that they would find new patrons or markets in India. Executed in red and blue behind a piece of glass, the painting would then be framed, securing it and creating a waterproof work. Here, it details a scene RamayanaOf Ravana with 10 heads.

A glass painting of Ravana

Erotic chromolithograph prints, such as this ‘pin-up’ poster, were often copied from oil paintings or inspired by Kalighat to Pat They were popular tourist souvenirs.

an erotic chromolithograph

DAG, Taj Mahal Palace, till June 29.

The author is Founder-Director of Eka Archiving Services.