Page 175 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

172 ART AND CRAFTS

fig. 3.3 (top) Ramchand was an employee
Oonoodah Mongul holding a relatively high post in
the Ferris Press owned by the
fig. 3.4 (bottom) English and naturally knew
Bat-tala Print
English. It may also be supposed,
that either by imitating the English
or by learning from them, he
started practicing engraving.
In the books of Bat-tala the first
example of illustrations can be seen
in the poetry of Kavikankana
Mukundarama; here five
illustrations were added engraved on
metal plates. The name of the artist
is absent; it was executed in the
indigenous style of Bengal. It was
published in 1823-24. After 1831
illustrations were a regular feature of
Bat-tala books. Most of them were
engraved on wood blocks or metal
plates. On analysis it becomes
apparent that most of these
illustrations are done in the folk
style, as opposed to the naturalism of
the European Academic
method, a kind of fantasy pervades the images. The influence of the rich and
ancient heritage of patachitra is very clear here and the narrative tendency
in the style of the Mughal school of painting is also noticeable; most
importantly, these illustrations are completely Indian in character. The
currency of engraving in the Western Academic method occurred
later, when the Art School was established.
Many of the artists of the Bat-tala prints are unknown. May be like
craftsmen they engraved professionally in exchange for money
and it is doubtful whether they received the honor of recognition
as artists. The names of quite a few artists were recorded later
when the practice of engraving the artist’s name with the original
picture became the custom. These artists are Ramdhan
Swarnakar, Bishwambhar Karmakar, Gupicharan Swarnakar,
Panchanan Das, Nafarchand Barujje, Nettalal Dutta, Heera Lal
Karmakar, Madhabchandra Das, Panchanan Karmakar (fig. 3.4).
The professional titles of these names indicate that, the artisans of