Pat on the Back

Bold colours and bolder drawings tell stories from mythology and history as well as of the shenanigans of the babus during the days of the Raj. Kalighat scroll paintings known as pat,which was born in Bengal in early 19 th century,retain their kitschy and folk appeal to this day. Now,the prestigious Victoria and Albert Museum of London is holding a showcase of Kalighat pat paintings in India,possibly the largest exhibition of its kind. More than 105 pat paintings are on display at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalya in Mumbai and the exhibition will travel to Hyderabad and Delhi in 2012.

Titled Kalighat Paintings Exhibition,the collection shows the gradual evolution of the art form down the years. While one work depicts the Jagannatha Trio,another canvas has Hanuman fighting Ravana,and a series showcases the Tarakeshwar Affair in which a Brahmin priest has an affair with a married woman.

“My main task in curating the show was to select 68 of the best examples from V&A’s collection of over 600 Kalighat paintings,and to combine them with the 24 important paintings from Kolkata’s Victoria Memorial Hall’s (VMH) collection,to create a strong narrative,” says curator Suhashini Sinha,a British born Bengali working with the V&A. This is the first time that V&A’s collection is on public display. Sinha’s research took her to the village of Naya in the Midnapur district of West Bengal,where a village of patuas (painters of pat art) create the patachitra. Here,she roped in contemporary pat painters Anwar and Uttam Chitrakar to exhibit their modern interpretations alongside the old pat paintings.

While there is no “For sale” section,paintings by contemporary artists are available. “This modern revival of Kalighat painting interests a lot of art buyers both nationally and internationally,” adds Sinha.