Indian Painters of Colonial Era (1750 - 1950 AD)

Book excerpt: This book is a documentation of significant practicing painters and sculptors of Greater Pre-Independence India between 1750 and 1950. The task of collecting this scattered material of Colonial-era to the united India, lead to search for names of artists from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and of course India. This register records almost 3000 names of practicing Indian artists, gathered assiduously from National archives, Museum records, rare old journals and books, and present living family members of deceased artists. In the absence of a legitimate record of the names of these forgotten artists names of many famous court painters under the patronage of Kings, Nawabs, and local rulers have been pushed into oblivion, with their works described in generalized terms, like coming from the ‘Colonial Period’ or ‘Post Mughal Period’, with a short description of a few painting styles of Provincial Schools.This book is the first of its kind and a small step towards giving recognition to these lost artists. Roop Narayan Batham