![]() These were Indian artists who painted various aspects of the country including portraits, festivals, landscapes and court proceedings under the patronage of the British East India Company. ![]() The other category of artists which experimented with hand-painted photography with the introduction of photography in 1840 was the Company School artists. In an article for the International Institute for Asian Studies, Allana writes that in the aftermath of the 1857 Uprising, many princely estates got subjugated across north India due to which provincial craftsmen and artisans moved to urban centres in search of patronage through commissions. He headed the royal painting workshop under Maharana Fateh Singh,” he says. One of the finest of them was Pannalal Parasram Gaur of Mewar (Rajasthan). They used to describe themselves as kalmi-chitrakar or hand colour artist. Majority of artists in his palace were from adi gaur caste. “Maharana Fateh Singh of Udaipur patronised arts including hand painting and photography. Rahaab Allana, curator, Alkazi Foundation for the Arts has closely studied the relation between painting and photography. It gives a painting-like feeling,” says Mehta. “Even after the introduction of colour photography, there were a few customers who wanted their black-and-white pictures painted in color instead of getting a color photo clicked. He was quick and precise,” says Pavan Mehta, who now runs the studio with his brother Pankaj. “He was the best among the three artists we had. ![]() When the family shifted to Delhi, Indra Prakash joined Mahatta Studio, Connaught Place, where he worked as a hand-painter for over thirty years. “The Balrampur family, the king of Bhutan and the palace of the Nizam of Hyderabad commissioned work to my parents,” he says. “Every time we visited my grandparents, we would first bath in the river,” he says. His grandparents used to live in Ayodhya near Sarayu river. He grew up in Lucknow with his parents, Indra Prakash and Tara Devi. Shankar says that his previous four generations were into hand-painting. Now, art connoisseurs, researchers and collectors occasionally commission work to Shankar’s tribe. It was in mass production and patronised by the royal families during the nineteenth century but gradually faded out of fashion with the advent of colour photography. Shankar practises the art form which is currently considered niche. Jaykumar Shankar, one of the last practitioners of the art, at his workshop in Delhi. I have to show that through colours,” he says. If there are different shades in a person’s hair due to sunlight, a photograph will capture that. “One who cannot create a three-dimensional imagery does not qualify as an artist. His mastery of the art form is at play as he mixes transparent colours to create shades and then applies them on the sheet to bring to life various elements in the image-ground, trees, sky, a giant rock and two kids standing by the rock. Others don’t know.” An image Jaykumar Shankar painted for Paris based artist Vasantha Yoganathan.(Biplov Bhuyan/HT PHOTO) “I get assignments once or twice a year from people in India and abroad who are aware of my skill and its significance. “This tradition is as good as dead,” says 45-years-old Shankar, spreading a black-and-white photo on a wooden plank. Only his family members and close friends know that his passion is hand-painting black-and-white photographs. People in the neighborhood know him as an astrologer who is involved in the upkeep of Hanuman temple in the vicinity. There is no visible trace of art at Jaykumar Shankar’s office in West Delhi.
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