Company style (BRITISH PERIOD)

A PPT ON BRITISH PERIOD ART

1. Art of Company style Made by - Abhinav gupta B.ARCH 3 rd Semister

2. Company style Company style  or  Company painting is a term for a hybrid Indo-European style of paintings made in India by Indian artists, many of whom worked for European patrons in the British East India Company or other foreign Companies in the 18th and 19th centuries . The style blended traditional elements from Rajput and Mughal painting with a more Western treatment of perspective, volume and recession. Most paintings were small, reflecting the Indian miniature tradition, but the natural history paintings of plants and birds were usually life size.

3. Women in a Brothel, Company style, Northern India, San Diego Museum of Art

4. Leading centres were the main British settlements of Calcutta,   Chennai,  Delhi,  Lucknow ,  Patna and the Maratha court of  Thanjavur . Subjects included portraits, landscapes and views, and scenes of Indian people, dancers and festivals . Series of figures of different castes or trades were particular favourites, with an emphasis on differences in costume ; now they are equally popular as subjects for analysis by historians of the imperialist mentality.

5. Some of the major works include  Mazhar Ali Khan, who worked on Thomas Metcalfe's  Delhi Book, was part of a dynasty of great miniature artists, the patriarch of whom,  Ghulam Ali Khan , had worked for William Fraser on a similar commission known as the Fraser Album, considered a masterpiece.

6. Delhi book Delhi Book or  Delhie Book titled Reminiscences of Imperial Delhi is a collection of paintings done in company style, commissioned bySir Thomas Metcalfe in 1844. It contains 120 paintings by Indian artists, mainly by Mughal painter,  Mazhar Ali Khan.  The book was bought by the British Library and displayed in London

7. A panorama in 12 folds showing the procession of the Emperor  Bahadur Shah Zafar II  to celebrate the feast of the 'Id., 1843.

8. Fraser Album Fraser Album  is a collection of paintings commissioned by British Indian civil servant, William Fraser. It is considered among the greatest masterpieces of Indian art.  This work is an important documentation of the Mughal empire towards its end . The artwork covered the life in Mughal era during the time. It compendium has portraits of villagers, soldiers, holy men, dancing women, Afghan horse-dealers, ascetics, village of  Rania  and Indian nobles . Some of the noted Mughal painters like  Ghulam Ali Khan , his brother Faiz , and family worked on the Fraser Album, after financial support from the Mughal emperor diminished. The album works were painted between 1815 to 1819

9. William Fraser , the creator A folio from  Fraser Album , ca 1815-181

10. Material Paintings were mostly on paper, but sometimes on  ivory , especially those from Delhi. They were mostly intended to be kept in portfolios or albums; the  muraqqa  or album was very well established among Indian collectors, though usually including  calligraphy  as well, as least in Muslim examples. The style developed in the second half of the 18th century, and by the early nineteenth century production was at a considerable level, with many of the cheaper paintings being copied by rote . By the 19th century many artists had shops to sell the work and workshops to produce it.

11. Some of the popular work of this era

12. A Common Indian Nightjar The bird is executed with great attention to detail—individual feathers have been outlined and painted with subtle gradations of color, and several shades of brown and black are used to delineate its body markings. The eye has a bright ring around it and the legs are textured with parallel line markings

13. Interior of a Mughal Tomb The structure is a domed octagonal chamber with an oculus. The dome itself has been decorated with a diaper-pattern grid. The walls below are articulated with recessed arches and a marble dado inlaid with red and green floral designs. The stone floor has been decorated in a grid pattern with central rosettes and a central inset that resembles a rug

14. Bengal River Fish The twin images of each side of the fish are placed by one another, the upper image in a dark gray tone and the lower one in a paler shade of the same color. The mottled, scaly surface of the fish's body is carefully rendered, as are its mouth and eyes.

15. Bengali Woman with water-jar Black Stork in a Landscape