Page 13 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

10 ART AND CRAFTS

required pressure had tried to created a kind of three-dimensional character. Not only
was the effort made to create modeling through the use of lyrical and dynamic lines,
in many cases the use of the white color is also noticed on the brightest parts of the
forms depicted. The perspective of the Pala miniatures is particularly linear and in the
construction of the composition its subject-matter is arranged in a stylized manner.
The subject matter was outlined with black or red and filled in with color. Though
different shades of the colors used are noticeable in these paintings, tonal variation is
hardly present. In most cases it can be seen that the artists have tried to create
modeling with color and line. This means that it was attempted to bring the feeling of
roundness in the depicted object through decreasing and increasing the thickness of
the line and making it faint or sharp. Likewise, to create the illusion of depth in forms
highlights were used in areas where the planes of the object are higher than in others.
To express the convexity of form the artists have used white with the main color.
Moreover, in many instances the artists have coordinated both the color and line
methods to create a quality of formal depth, which has imparted a wonderful charm to
the modeling of the entire painting. Though there was certain rigidity in these
methods, but the fact that the artists of those times were conscious of the finer aspects
of representing modeling can be easily surmised from this. Moreover, in the paintings
by the artists of Bengal, especially in the wooden book covers, a kind of sculptural
quality of form found expression which was born from their inherent habit. This was
because the folk artists of Bengal were artists simultaneously in multiple media, on
different occasions they worked on many different items. It is quite justifiable to think
that from the habit of making idols a sculptural solidity found expression in the
paintings of the artists of Bengal.
The Mediaeval Style
In the presentation of Pala manuscript painting some peculiar characteristics
connected to the construction of its composition are to be noticed. Generally, over
shades of light colors, the forms of the subject-matter were arranged primarily from
a single point perspective inside an arch-like outline. Contextually we know that the
distinction of Gupta art revealed itself in the nuances of its expression. The feeling or
mood of the object presented is reflected through various meaningful postures, seats
and hand gestures. The nuances in painting have been expressed in the creation of
rounded forms and by coordinating the surrounding composition in accordance with
the forms. In the use of various shades of balanced and fresh colors in the interior of
shapes created by continuous flowing sinuous lines of various dimensions, it is the
well-modeled reflection of the object which is the life force of this art. Subsequently
in the middle ages the well formed character of classical art acquired a mainly line-
oriented and two-dimensional characteristic. Of course, lines were also used in
classical paintings but the objective behind their use was chiefly the creation of the
modeling quality of the object. But in the painting of the middle ages, the lines used
lose the continuous, facile characteristics of classical art and there is no noticeable