It is not very often that the much-revered pichwais of Kishangarh find their way into the heart of the Indian, contemporary art scenario. Yet last Friday art lovers saw them unveil their beauty in full splendor at Bikaner House, New Delhi. Whilst Vaishnavi Kumari, the chief creator and curator of Studio Kishangarh has breathed new life into this miniature school.
Princess Vaishnavi Kumari, Aakash Chaudhry, Princess Diya Kumari
Nirvaan Singh with Princess Mriganka Kumari of J&K and Kumar Saaheb Padmanabh Jadeja of Gondol
The Portrait of IP, an artwork in collaboration with Mr. Him Chatterjee, who is a sublime Artist and also the Chairman of the Department of Visual Arts, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla.
Haveli singers
Princess Sarveshwari Kumari with Their Highnesses Maharani Meenakshi Devi & Maharaja Brajraj Singh
Princess Diya Kumari of Jaipur, Princess Vaishnavi Kumari of Kishangarh and Khushboo Bagga
Studio Kishangarh Artwork of Shrinath Ji
Deeksha Mishra
HH Maharaja Brajraj Singh & HH Maharani Meenakshi Devi
A forgotten art that grew under the patronage of the royal family of Kishangarh in the 18th century, it bloomed under the era of the two maestros, Bhawani Singh and Nihal Chand. In an era when the Mughals were driving away the practitioners of aesthetics, be it music, art or dance, evolved Rajput kings like Raja Savant Singh, who welcomed them into their court with open arms, giving them and their art a generous residency. The school is clearly distinguished by its individualistic facial type and its religious intensity. The sensitive, refined features of the men and women are drawn with pointed noses and chins, deeply curved eyes, and serpentine locks of hair. Their action is frequently shown to occur in large panoramic landscapes.
A carefully curated collection of stunning art pieces, ranging from pichwais that depict the majestic Shrinathji within the pristine setting of the Kishangarh Fort, verdant, majestic and rich in flora and fauna, to architectural art in hues of green to beige and a stunning installation that decodes every element of the pichwai, the exhibition opened with much grandeur as every royal made their presence felt. With Diya Kumari, the Princess of Jaipur, inaugurating the show, the opening night saw royal families of Jammu and Kashmir, Bhavnagar, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Nabha, Gondol, Patiala, Kapurthala amongst others enjoying haveli sangeet and absorbing the sheer beauty of the art.
Create A Mind or Beautiful Mind
When you have to represent an abstract form like intellectual property it requires metamorphosising the intangible into tangible and that’s just what renowned artist Him Chatterjee executed with his gentle but imaginative brush strokes. It required him to begin research with the help of celebrated IP lawyer Safir Anand, to come up with a portrait that depicts the soul of IP. The result was a painting that captured its nuances, both the genesis of knowledge and the interpretation of monetisation, as the colours reflect its effervescence. Mr Anand believes that IP can be given various means of expression, art, music, and food and should not be limited to just legality. The brain is the most important organ in the body and IP is about nurturing this treasure, thus, Him embarked on a research-based journey to present it through the depiction of the head, brain, eyes and nose, intermingling it with Hindu philosophy and almost humanising grey matter. The Gyan Chakra is placed on the head (circle and eyes), and the “H” and “Sha”, represent how everything will be destroyed in the end. The opposite triangle in the painting is about ‘balance’, an essential ingredient as intellectuality is lost without this potent force. Above the Gyan Chakra, the artist placed wisdom, without confusing it with the mind, as wisdom is not gyan it is the Brahma chakra. The egg in the portrait represents the source of creativity, or the fountainhead of ideas, placed judiciously in 1,000 petals, as IP’s job is to legally protect the brain from which emanates wisdom. Each part of the portrait is soaked in significance, whether it is the two hands holding the “Kalash”, which represents property, or the five leaves representing the five elements. The scriptures show Goddess Lakshmi holding a “pot” in one hand mirroring “property”, but here IP is not Lakshmi but Saraswati. The vibrancy of orange epitomises the power of knowledge as it is undeniably the ultimate deciding factor.