Colonialism affect on South Asia Painting - Essay Example

HOW EUROPEAN COLONIALISM CHANGED ART AND ARCHITECTURE IN SOUTH ASIA Task: How European colonialism changed art and architecture Introduction In the past, people in all cultures used to have their own ways of decorating surfaces of domestic, religious, and public buildings. The most significant modes of surface decoration are wall paintings, sculpted bas-reliefs, and ornamental plasterwork. Decorated architectural surfaces conveyed immense meanings through the appearance, materials, and methods used in their creation. They also displayed the symbols, stories, and patterns of the cultures that made the decorations. Decorated surfaces were used in identifying different cultures and the artisanship of people in the past. Due to the European colonialism, ways in which individuals express themselves through paintings changed in South Asia. How forms and meanings of paintings or architecture have changed Earthen architecture has been a canvas of surfaces decoration over the ages. In West Africa, earth was applied as texture patterns, relief decorations, and as vibrant paintings. In the South Asia, earthen paintings showed relief and elaborate decorative paintings. In Europe earthen paintings ware used in grace tombs, religious structures, and homes. In South Asia, due to the colonialism, the paintings were influenced and individuals started using the Europeans materials and greater varieties of plasters and paints started being used instead of the earthen paintings. The preservation of the old forms of paintings was difficult because of the heterogeneous characteristics of the paintings materials1. European colonialism affected the panting forms of different cultures due to modernization. Many cultures abandoned their art. For instance, the colonialist introduces steel, which led to the abandonment of the major carved figures that were made from bones and stones. The introduction of wood and steel led to the increase in the production of art because carvers could easily elaborate on detail and motifs, which were not easy when using the traditional stones, bones, and shell tools. Due to the colonialism, the affected countries’ art declined and were replaced by the European arts. The form of paintings and curves incorporated imported media as well as increasingly realistic motifs that foreigners could easily recognize and appreciate2. Arts especially paintings were central elements in the clear display of prosperity, status, and lineage in the past. After the European colonialism, religious images, portraits, and landscape picture started to express the new meanings of paintings and displayed the identities of the Europeans. For the creation of splendor of the introduced European culture, the colonial artists and their patrons often turned to locally distinctive aspects of the colonies in the natural environment and the indigenous culture. The fine arts and especially paintings started to display European culture and history. The religious images of the Mexicans like the Virgin of Guadalupe served to present new myths of the source thereby legitimating a new hierarchy of indigenous authority3. Colonial images of the indigenous people played a significant role in the imperial control process. Western fantasies and desires that surrounded the non-western cultures throughout the colonial period lent themselves well to visual representation. Some of the Western fantasies including the projections are the Tahitian paintings of Paul Gauguin and the artistic practices of the expressionist group. The images celebrated imagined social freedom in the so-called primitive societies. Not all the images of the colonialists were beautiful, but the colonists colonized degraded and misinterpreted individuals’ visual arts like paintings. New genre of art like the caste paintings which were paintings that were created by the mixed Indian-European people, sought to categorize the bewildering types of racial types found in the colonies. All the fine art representations helped to assemble the racial theories attitudes, and tendencies of colonial societies4. British transplanted their form of architecture from their country to India in the early periods of their stay in the country. In the colonial era, the British had negative feelings toward the Indian Art because the art displayed the Indian culture. The Europeans did not like the Indian architecture since they could not understand them because of the complexity of the Hindu tradition. They therefore stated to change architecture in India. The most visible patronage of the arts is in the Western character, as testified by some places and mansions in the Valley on the model of nineteenth century European villas. The European colonialism influences can also be seen in paintings, and particularly evident in two paintings in the Jucker collection. The Europeans influenced the artists in India to start using oil paints, their own drawings, and prints. The significant influence of the Indian artists was seen on Martin when he started to produce paints of landscapes, flower pieces, and portraits, which ware mostly used by the European artists5. The Indian artists changed their form of architecture by integrating European symbols and stylistic elements into their miniatures. They therefore adopted the European figure modeling after the colonization. Due the colonial influence, they started inventing special paintings like the nocturnal hunting scenes. The Indian artists also started using the watercolor techniques that they copies from the Europeans. The Europeans also influenced the company paintings in India. For Instance, they influenced the paintings of the East India Company, which reflected the British ideas in the works of Indian artists. The paintings copy the European landscape landscapes that show a fusion style midway between the Indian models and European Models6. The architectures that have the influence of the Europeans dominate the City of Lahore. The buildings present varied examples of the past colonial architecture, which was a combination of the European old styles and past Indian architecture. Several objects like the wooden carves were made by adopting the skills of the local craftsmen to suit the European taste. The European architectural products started being used in schools especially wooden and metal objects since they were regarded to be of high quality7. Conclusion The European colonialism affected the way individuals from different cultures in South Asia paint and the meanings of those paintings. For instance, they introduced the new ways of carving whereby people use and woods to do the curving. They also introduced the new images to be curved. Since they could not understand the meanings of the indigenous paintings, the Europeans had to introduce their forms of paintings and architecture that they could understand. Examples of the architecture that was influenced by the Europeans were the company paintings in India and one of them was the East India Company. Bibliography Rainer, Leslie & Angelyn, Bass. The conservation of decorated surfaces on earthen architecture: proceedings from the international Colloquium organized by the Getty conservation institute and the national Park service, Mesa Verde national Park, Colo., USA, September 22-25, 2004. Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute, 2006. Mitter, Partha. Art and Nationalism in Colonial India 1850-1922. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Sinha, Gayatri. Art and Visual Culture in India 1857-2007. Mumbai: Marg Publications, 2007. Tillotson, Giles. The Tradition of Indian Architecture: Continuity, Controversy and Change since 1850. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1989. Read More