our clothes and our temperaments are decidedly colourful – we even marry off our brides in red 
And when we eat instead of sequential courses- ours is a spread that brings it all together
This is stuff that we’ve seen lining the pavements, as posters and wall calenders- The gods we worship are illustrated thus :
" Roadside display of poster and calendar art (Daryaganj, Delhi, 2000)"
"Dhanya Lakshmi. The goddess of wealth with tractor and tube-well in the background, signs of industrial agrarian prosperity.(Artist: Sapar Brothers, Publisher unknown)."
"Ya Ghaus-e Azam: a woman pays her homage to the shrine of Saint Abdul Qadir Jilani in Baghdad (Iraq) who is considered in high esteem by all Sufis in South Asia. The devotee wears typically north Indian dress while the saint’s miracles (of saving a drowning boat and others) are seen in the backdrop. It rare to see an Indian poster showing the persona of a saint.Artist: unknown, Publisher: Brijbasi, date: circa 1990"
When I was putting together this post I came across a site: Tasveerghar and a book on Indian popular art. 'India Bazaar' ( by Taschen Publications) is this beautiful book filled with posters, packaging, advertisements and calendars done in the inimitable Indian poster style.
The Hindu god Shiva and his consort Parvati
The Favourite Elephant headed god, Lord Ganesha in an earlier illustration & a current version
Freedom Fighters all. Posters and charts- M.K Gandhi to the left and the many freedom fighters across generations
Firecracker packaging featuring Indian film stars to the left & a boy and girl illustrated in a style from the 60s.
"Tasveer Ghar is a trans-national virtual “home” for collecting, digitizing, and documenting various materials produced by South Asia’s exciting popular visual sphere including posters, calendar art, pilgrimage maps and paraphernalia, cinema hoardings, advertisements, and other forms of street and bazaar art." Tasveerghar is the place on the net to check out a serious and methodical approach to Indian popular art
Filmposters with Muslim storylines. Note the predominant green.
Packaging.
Graphic design- Indian style.
There's a lot more which typically constitutes Indian popular art like 'Truck graphics& vehicle art' 'Signage graphics' 'Bollywood posters' but each of that will be a separate post :) Do tell me if you'd like to anymore in this space.
Images from GettyImages, IndiaBazaar, Tasveerghar.net & Streetgraphics India.
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28 comments:
Very Nice post Vineeta.. Brought a smile to my face. "Bring on the colors we are Indians" how very true.
thanx vinita! I was just wondering about it- unlike my decor posts this one is rather 'in-your-face'- but well thats Popular Indian art for you. I really wanted to post about this for long :)
lovely lovely rang-a-rang post...
A lovely spread of colours in this post vineeta. It's true, there's art all around us - be it on a matchbox or on the huge posters...
Can I say how lovely your post is?! Did u click those snaps yourself? I admit sometimes, too much colours seem garish, but when well done its a treat to the eyes.
Prashant, Ab hum to Ranga-rang hi hain :) We are like that only :) glad you liked it
Bhumika, thanx a ton :) Infact its so much around us, we take it for granted and don't see it as anything special- only once i started clicking pics and posting it in an international audience that I realised it is pretty unique.
Smita, this is the one post that I haven't clicked a single image for :) All downloaded. At the end of the post I've given the credits of the visuals to Tasveerghar.net and gettyimages etc. And Im glad you enjoyed it :)
India is the THE most colorful and tasty country that i know of...
nothing even comes CLOSE !!!
i am proud of being an Indian and thankful to everyone to adds to this pride !!!
can't wait to come back to India and start clicking :)
:) are u thanking me for adding to the pride? :))) Anyway- Im assuming that :) And Jaldi wapas aaja! Im sure your family misses u much.
without a doubt :)
Colour pervades, surely. I'm not so sure if it always will as villages turn into urban centers.
this post is so so pretty, your culture is so full of color & beauty! our neighbors are Indian and we are so lucky to have delicious traditional dinners with them, and we even celebrated Diwali with candles lit on our front porches. I laways check your blog and leave feeling very inspired, thank you!
Anil P, I worry about that too- but travel across india often & you will figure- even if it does happen it will take some 3 centuries. I make the mistake of living in a city and I fear about our disappearing art, tradition & Indian-ness. For me its a choice but for an majority of India- its a way of life & will be for a long time.
Amber, thanx for the appreciation- You celebrated Diwali!! wow. And what fun- sharing & exchanging cuisine of 2 countries sounds most exciting! :)
Yes what a coincidence! I just love indian art. So I love your post! :)
I have not taken the photographs of the jewellry, they are taken from the internet. Glad you laked them, I would love
to have some of the jewellry.
Elisa, your post just stopped me in my tracks :) And that jewellery can make anyone drool- great pics- whoevers taken them :) Thanx for sharing it!
fills me with delight in being an indian - too much colour, too much life, too much spirit - lovely:-)keep capturing india in all colours vinee, keep making us feel happy about india
Gunj, what you wrote is true really. Everything about India is unignorable if nothing else. We, our culture, our emotions, our smells, our colours are strong. Love it or hate it.
The best of Indian kitch! :-) love the colors!
Thanx! And I like your new icon :)
I adore these colors! I must have you send me some postcards!
wow indian are is so intricate! beautiful!
Peggy! I will if you want - just say the word :)
Jay, You bet- Its almost like we dont believe in simplicity :)
i got it,
Thank you for sharing these wonderful images. I am researching Indian art for a mural that a wonderful Indian woman would like to have done in her home. She wants to marry several elements...abstract, traditional Indian motifs...and the images of her and her son's faces. It has been a wonderful experience to research Indian art and to see the traditional brought to the current day with such ease.
The picture really show the indian art, which is becoming more and more famous nowadays.
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