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History and Culture

Miniature Art Culture in Udaipur

Source: Art Udaipur

Miniature Painting has significance not only in being beautiful, but also academically, historically, and religiously. These paintings were used to record the lives of royalty. For a long time, when people couldn’t read, this artistry acted as a means of spreading and recording information, education, notions, and anything that needed awareness. This particular field of art needs extreme precision and finesse in the final product. It’s an exceptional thing for a person of Miniature Artistry to get the faces with utmost accuracy. Importance of Miniature Painting in Rajasthan is massive and Udaipur dwells on Miniature arts. 

Source: Udaipur Cycle Tour

The paint used in these paintings is mostly made from stones like Graphite, Lapis Lazuli, and many other natural resources. For colors like gold and silver, incredibly thin sheets of gold and silver are used called Varakh. Even while making the colors, the consistency of the color is vital. Details lie at the heart of Miniature Painting. Every stroke, fill, corner, and crevice of a painting demands a clean hand. So, naturally, the brushes used are excellent, they are made from the hair of a squirrel’s tails and it’s said, hair is also obtained from camel’s eyelashes. For mixing bowls, shells with smooth surfaces are used. For straight lines, wooden rod helps.

Source: Go Heritage Run

The four steps included in making a miniature painting are Sketching, done in reddish-brown ink, followed by Tracing done on the main canvas or paper, then the coloring is executed and lastly Stippling is done, where small strokes and dots are made with a small fine brush. Both round and flat brushes act as tools for the artists.

Source: Nat Geo Traveller India

Sadly, more than sixty percent of the miniature artists are changing professions as they see a bleak future. Art comes from the intensive conversation between mind and soul. An artist simply cannot function if these two decide to not cooperate. Everyone is gifted with a little bit of art but not all are called artists. It takes recognition of that art, and practice every day to be respectably called an artist. Even after so much effort and passion, Miniature Art is a dying one. There are great miniature artists in Udaipur who follow this art with all their might, but they don’t wish to pass it down to the generation.

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Miniature art is being kept alive by exhibitions, tourism, and a very small number of art lovers. If you are are someone who appreciates art, these paintings will amaze you. Visit the old city of Udaipur to support and appreciate local artists. Appreciating art is also an art.  

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Is Miniature Art in Udaipur Dying?

The indigenous art forms are the soul of any place. They make up the city’s beauty in the same manner as the landscape does. Udaipur is indeed quite beautiful with the landscape part and also has a lot of artforms coexisting beneath the layers of modernization and technology. Well, there are many art forms such as handcrafted wooden toys, zinc artifacts, and others. Paintings take up a bigger portion of the art of the city and are one of the things not to be missed.

Mewar (Udaipur) is famous for its paintings. Miniature art is one such artform that is quite popular in the subcontinent and is aboriginal to Udaipur.

There are hundreds of miniature painting artists in the old city of Udaipur who are making their living by selling these arts to locals, foreigner and to bigger retailers.

I happened to come across one such artist who is painting miniatures since ages and makes his living through his art. The meager amount of money and newer generations not opting to learn the art is making this art of Miniature paintings drift into oblivion.

Let’s hear it from him- Is Miniature Art in Udaipur Dying?

(earphones recommended)

 

What are thoughts about the same? Do you also think that the artists are not valued much and hence are losing their art in the hands of inflation?

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