Kangra painting is the pictorial art of Kangra, named after Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, a former princely state, which patronized the art. It became prevalent with the fading of Basohli school of painting in mid-18th century, and soon produced such a magnitude in paintings both in content as well as volume, that the Pahari painting school, came to be known as Kangra paintings.

Though the main centres of Kangra paintings are Guler, Basohli, Chamba, Nurpur, Bilaspur and Kangra. Later on this style also reached Mandi, Suket, Kulu, Arki, Nalagarh and Tehri Garhwal (represented by Mola Ram), and now are collectively known as Pahari painting, covering the style that was patronized by Rajput rulers between the 17th and 19th centuries.

Pahari paintings, as the name suggests, were paintings executed in the hilly regions of India, in the sub-Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh. It is in the development and modification of Pahari paintings, that the Kangra School features. Under the patronage of Maharaja Sansar Chand (c.1765-1823), it became the most important center of Pahari painting. To see some of these master pieces one can visit the Maharaja Sansar Chand Museum, adjoining the Kangra Fort in Kangra Himachal. This museum has been founded by the erst-while Royal Family of Kangra.

History
This great art originated in Guler State, a small hill state in the Lower Himalayas in the first half of the 18th century when a family of Kashmiri painters trained in Mughal painting Style sought shelter at the court of Raja Dalip Singh (r. 1695-1741) of Guler. The rise of Guler Paintings started in what is known as the Early phase of Kangra Kalam. The new arrivals mingled with the local artists and were greatly influenced by the atmosphere of the hills. Instead of painting flattering portraits of their masters and love scenes, the artistes adopted themes of eternal love between Radha and Krishna. The paintings were naturalistic and employed cool, fresh colors. The colors were extracted from minerals, vegetables and possessed enamel-like luster. Verdant greenery of the landscape, brooks, springs were the recurrent images on the miniatures.

Nainsukh (1710-1778), succeeded by two generations of his family workshop, introduced a distinctive style which combined Mughal elements with personal innovations.

This style reached its zenith during the reign of Maharaja Sansar Chand Katoch (r.1776-1824) who was a great patron of Kangra art. Being a liberal patron, the painters working at his atelier received large commissions while others accepted a permanent settlement in the form of lands. Maharaja Sansar Chand was an ardent devotee of Krishna and used to commission artists to paint subjects based on the loves and life of Krishna.

The Guler-Kangra art is the art of drawing and the drawing is precise and fluid, lyrical and naturalistic. In these styles the faces are well modelled and shaded so judiciously that they possess almost porcelain-like delicacy.

Themes
The focal theme of Kangra painting is Shringar (the erotic sentiment). The subjects seen in Kangra painting exhibit the taste and the traits of the life style of the society of that period. Bhakti cult was the driving force and the love story of Radha and Krishna was the main source of spiritual experience, which was also the base for the visual expression. Bhagavata Purana and the love poems Gita Govinda by Jayadeva were the most popular subjects dealing with the legends and the amorous plays of Radha and Krishna symbolising soul’s devotion to God. In some miniatures, the blue-god Krishna is seen dancing in the lush woodlands and every maiden’s eye are drawn to him. Krishna subjects, known commonly as Krishna-lila predominate, while the themes of love, inspired by the nayaks and nayikas and baramasa enjoyed great favour. The sentiment of love remained the inspiration and the central theme of Pahari painting. The Sat Sai depictions of the legendary lovers, on the other hand, were set against an architectural background with walls, balconies and windows. Kangra paintings influenced by the Bhagavad Purana portrayed incidents from the life of the young Krishna, against the Brindavan forest or river Yamuna. The other popular themes were the stories of Nala and Damayanti, and those from Keshavdas’s Baramasa.

Style
In Kangra painting we find a mix of folk styles in Rajput, Mughal and Punjabi. As Aurangzeb drove the Hindu artists of his court from the state, they took shelter in neighboring states. This art grown from them has many styles.

Features of Kangra painting
One striking feature of Kangra paintings is the verdant greenery it depicts. The style is naturalistic, and great attention is paid to detail. The foliage depicted is vast and varied. This is made noticeable by using multiple shades of green. The Kangra paintings feature flowering plants and creepers, leafless trees, rivulets and brooks.

The Kangra artists adopted various shades of the primary colors and used delicate and fresher hues. For instance, they used a light pink on the upper hills to indicate distance.

Kangra paintings depict the feminine charm in a very graceful manner. Facial features are soft and refined. The female figures are exceptionally beautiful.

Later Kangra paintings also depicted nocturnal scenes, and storms and lightning. The paintings were often large and had complex compositions of many figures and elaborate landscapes. Towns and house clusters were often depicted in the distance.

The Kangra painters used colors made of vegetable and mineral extracts. They employed cool and fresh colors. Kangra paintings are known for the lyrical blending of form and color.

The Kangra Arts Promotion Society() an NGO at Dharamshala Himachal Pradesh is working for the promotion of this art which is at the verge of extinction today. This NGO is running a school to train young boys and girls in this art. It also runs a workshop where genuine Kangra Paintings are made on traditional handmade paper using only mineral and vegetable colours.

Motivation
The Kangra painting is unique to the place where it was born and raised. The pictures are inspirational to the hills. The shade of that area is visible in the wooden bins. The plot is a touch of folk tales. Kangra is meaningful because of this colorful background.

The main factors
The technique in Kangra painting is minimal. The painter uses his art to balance it. Female-men’s organs, hill hills are often portrayed in astonishing way of emotions to make them living works that do not get bored. It feels like the eyes of the hero are moving. The codes are very rare. The painter had full freedom and had the opportunity to film it in accordance with his inspiration. This freedom is due to the diversity of images.

The main elements of the Kangra painting are drawing design, bright color and ultra-delicate decorations. For this the painter used a very delicate and soft brush. These are squirrelsMade from hair. Before drafting the paintings, the painted tinted silalaskot was drafted in turquoise paper. White painted on it, softened the paper, painted the diagram in black or brown and then painted them. He used specially clean red, yellow, blue and green. It is noteworthy that even the paintings of these images remain 200 years later. The painting of Kangra is not realistic. The artist is created by his memorable power as a woman and a hill. Women are often portrayed as thin, swollen, mature, full-breasted and straight-nose. However, every painter has painted the face to suit his taste. All images of women in general are portrayed in the Parshwa scene. The Kangra painting is largely anonymous. In some films only Guru,

Object
Kangra is the art of painting. Various faces of cosmetics are well-known. Radha-Krishna or Shiva Shivaratri are the main figures of each film. The most important thing for the Kangra artist is feminine interaction. This painter prefers the beauty of female organs. All of them are minor. Nature’s imagery is also a reflection or enhancement of female beauty. In this sense art is not even in India for the art of Kangra. Even so, this painting does not have a sense of profanity beyond dignity. Archer believes that only a few of the symbols of sexual attraction have been used. Another unique feature of Kangra’s painting is the artist’s impression. HimalayasThe life of the hill hills is difficult. This difficult life portrayal is portrayed in all Kangra films. The artist of Kangra is especially interested in nature. The Beas River valley, hill hill, which is especially familiar to him, has umbrella trees on them, mango groves, huts, snowflakes, and the beast – all of which are truly depicted. Bhagavata, myth, and song, The introduction of works such as Baramasah is good for the artist. There is a special interest in the depiction of the heroes there. Below is a list of eight types of heroes found in the poetry of Hindi poet Keshavadasa, the following verses from the script. The extracurricular, octa, vivakshayya, abhinandita, kandi, prositapatika, vipralabda, abhisarika etc., the extravagant, human, Radhakrishna is implicitly depicted in the gut-tunes for those seasons. The ragamala films of music are also rich in this style.

Another interesting thing that Kangra’s painter loves is Krishna Lale. He is also interested in drawing gopi govts that are sunk into Krishna’s flute. Koliyamaradana, Govardhanagiriari, Gopika Vastapaharana are many of these paintings. In this style, the emphasis of the image diminished as the embellishment was more important than the emotion in this style. At that time, its patron saint began to decline. Thus, the Kangra painting decline survives only in artworks and palaces.

Source from Wikipedia