Analysis of Storyscrolls on Contemporary subjects

Example 6

Example 5

Example 4

Example 3

Example 2

Example 1

Example of how a storyscroll is formed from start to end

Tsunami (a book by Tara Books)

Tsunami

Joydeb and Moyna Chitrakar

In the traditional manner of Patua art, this innovative scroll-book transforms the dramatic news into a moving and artfully rendered fable. Dirge-like in tone and translated from the original Bengali song, the Tsunami ballad evokes, as all ancient forms fo keening do, the persistence of life in death.

The extraordinary imagination of the Patua artists introduces an old fashioned empathy into modern reportage—and in the process, creates a moving take that transforms the ephemera of newsrooms into art with a universal resonance.

This is the first time a Patua scroll has been rendered into the form of a book. The scroll-book is silk-screen-printed by hand.

Bibliography

Date of information accessed : 18th Nov 2010

https://www.tarabooks.com/2009/09/08/tsunami/

https://www.tarabooks.com/books/books/handmade-books/tsunami/

Patachitra Analysis report

Reference 2

Bibliography

Author of the article: Jyotindra Jain

Title of the articles: The Art of Indian Picture Showmen: Tradition and Transformation

Demonstrations, Pat (West Bengal)

Book title: Akhyan – A Celebration of Masks, Puppets & Picture Showmen Tradition of India

Publishers - Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts along with Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi

Page no. 15 -27, 87

Inference:

This article brought many interesting phases of Bengal Patachitra forward. Broadly it can be categorized into 2 important areas

a) It is remarkable to see the response of these rural patuas scroll painters and storytellers to the contemporary changes happening from the second half of the 19^th century – on the one hand resisting the change often with sarcastic ridicule and on the other adopting many of its features in professional practice, even using it as a tool for more effective expression and a wider outreach.

b) It is fascinating to observe how a Patua’s art portraits contemporary stories taking interesting inspirations from the tradition scrolls

Patuas teach us a very important lesson “To survive and grow one need to be with the present time”

Reference 1

Bibliography

Author of the article: Kim Arora

Title of the article: BENGAL’S ARTISTIC BRUSH WITH MYTH & REALITY

TIMES CITY, Page no. 6

THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2010

(Cont).Interviewed Patachitra artist – Anwar At Dastkaar Fair, New Delhi

Illustration style

Since the Patuas are not trained artists from any art school they believe what one make is fine. They are always very self satisfied with their work. No Patua can point out any mistake in other’s work as there is nothing as right or wrong in terms of proportions, movements, action etc. Thus, there are no rules and no limitations!

Patuas believe that any drawing that they draw is worth only if it is able to tell the sto

Patuas are very passionate artists as they always want to put what they see around in their paintings. Thus, the paintings come out to be a reflection of one’s own environment blend with the Patua’s imagination and their thoughts.

All Patuas have the freedom to interpret the things as they want to

Interesting points to look for:

- Black outline and big eyes are the two most important significant characteristics of Bengal Patachitra.

- Use of symbols depends completely from Patua to Patua. There is no fixed list of symbols used in these paintings. It varies from what the particular story demands.

- There is no rule in anatomy for the Patuas. They do try to put their best efforts to make it look as close to the real but then there are no rules.

- There is not much experimentation with the angles. The characters are generally drawn in front or side view

- If any character needs to be shown dead, then it is drawn lying horizontally in front angle

- Patuas have the liberty to use their own imagination and exaggerate as they want to express the story effectively

- Borders are also an important aspect of Patachitra. Borders are not just the outer margin area around the scroll but it is also used to make division between various panels.

- There is very less play with hand movements. No actual gripping of objects will be found. Even in the folded fingers one can see five fingers in a row. There are no rules!

- The waist(kamar) of the female is generally made a bit wide(choda) as compared to how we generally draw a female body

- There is generally flat use of colors. Also there is no play of shadows in Patachitra except in Kalighat style

- Major differentiation can be made among various characters through their different skin tones, moustache and beard styles, clothes and body movements

- In order to make the tribal people look like living in jungle their faces are drawn having a strong resemblance with animal faces

- Generally characters are made without eyelashes, nails and with their mouth closed. Anything opposite then this is only drawn when the figure is shown in exaggerated proportions

- Mostly the female characters are draped in sari with no blouses and the designs of the sari is done with black lines

- The hand gestures, body movements and the important elements are generally rhythmic in nature

- Eyeball is the last thing which is done in the painting as it is believed that once the eyeball is done, the painting comes to life

(Cont.)Interviewed Patachitra artist – Anwar At Dastkaar Fair, New Delhi

Layout design

Once the song is ready, the Patuas start with the pencil drawing of the scroll painting

Mythological stories don’t have much experiment in layouts as all Patuas work on the same storyline and they don’t want to break their ancestral traditional style.

The size of the scroll varies from story to story.

Border space is the first thing to be marked followed by planning and distributing the story into different panels. The size of each panel depends upon the weight of the scene to be depicted. Important scenes are always depicted in bigger panels.

Patuas experiment a lot with layouts. They explore interesting ways to depict a story to get the desired response from the audience.

Layout design completely depends on the nature and the demand of the storyline. In order to classify them to understand better one can mainly divide them into 3 major styles of layouts-

a) Distribute the story into various boxes (panels)

In this the first box is the most attractive and largest in size to catch the viewer’s attention and the following boxes are planned as half, one-third or one forth to the first box depending on the requirement of the story

b) Pick the most important character from the story and place it large on the whole scroll

The scenes to be depicted are planned around this which makes the whole appearance of the scroll look very dynamic.

c) Combination of both the layout styles mentioned above

Patuas try to make the layout look as rhythmic as they can so that the pictures blend well with the flow of the song when sung in front of the audience.