Current Location:
John C. Kennedy Hall of Engineering -> 3rd Floor (KEN)
Location Notes:
KEN; 3rd fl., Lf. of Rm. 348

The Art of India ➔ Lord Krishna, Lover Radha, and Brother Balaram

Artist Unknown
GVSU Collection
Vegetable Dye on Paper
Artworks - Height: 11 in Width: 14.375 in
Three figures along same horizon. First male is a gray color and middle female and last male are yellow. Maroon and yellow alternating border. Lots of decoration in background
Historical Context:
Traditional folk art paintings usually depict some epic narrative but can also include scenes from daily life. Folk paintings usually have vibrant and natural colors. This is an example of southern Indian Folk art.

Wikipedia Summary:

Indian Art consists of a variety of art forms, including plastic arts (e.g., pottery and sculpture), visual arts (e.g., cave paintings), and textile arts (e.g., woven silk). Geographically, it spans the entire Indian subcontinent, including what is now India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. A strong sense of design is characteristic of Indian art and can be observed in its modern and traditional forms.

The origin of Indian art can be traced to pre-historic Hominid settlements in the 3rd millennium BC. On its way to modern times, Indian art has had cultural influences (e.g., Indus Valley and Hellenistic), as well as religious influences such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Islam. In spite of this complex mixture of religious traditions, generally the prevailing artistic style at any time and place has been shared by the major religious groups.

In historic art, sculpture in stone and metal, mainly religious, has survived the Indian climate better than other media, and provides most of the best remains. Many of the most important ancient finds that are not in carved stone come from surrounding, drier regions rather than India itself. Indian funeral and philosophic traditions exclude grave goods, which are a main source of ancient art in other cultures.