Bhagavana Mahavira and his Relevance in Modern Times

Author(s): Narendra Bhanavat, Prem Suman Jain, V P Bhatt
Publisher: Akhil Bharat Varshiya Sadhumargi Jain Sangh

Page 178

Pictorial Factors of Jain Miniatures viewed in Modern Context
this to the 'Op' juxtaposition of colours in Jain-miniatures, one can easily deduce that these miniaturists used this visually powerful vehicle first to depersonalize the onlooker and then accentuating in whites and blacks the icons represented so that the onlooker enlivens the visual-aroma of Jain-images.
Human-Motifs :
About the 'figuration' in Jain-minatures it would be worthwhile recollecting that when Samant, one of the outstanding modern painters of India, met late Picasso (the greatest of the human-painters in modern art) the latter advised him to switch over to Jain-miniatures. Thus 'figurations' in Jain-miniatures do have a graphic (aesthetic) satisfaction for modern sensiblity. Through cubists we have architectonic and rational construction of human image reaching a dramatic ideom in Picasso; Expressionists conveyed personal dreads, 'Matisse moved logically, concerned with man's image only as a motif in a grand scheme of light, movement, decoration and pleasure'7. In this modern journey of human motif presentday artists have added cool, withdrawn, nonentity or depersonality of human image.
165
and
Leaving aside present day's broad range of techniques concentrating on the aspects of human-motif find that Jain-miniatures have a grand scheme of human-motifs having not only the wide dimensions of human psychology but touching even the realm of beyond-the Gods (provided their inconography is read properly). Apart from this land of beyond, if the figures are judged from the formalistic logic, we find in them a perfect plastic logic having planes, textures, colours and lines placed in a most 'significantly' beautiful way, and on the on such motifs, in their totality, are expressive of a personality which is possible to be interpreted philosophically in art's language, as an archaic image'. Such figure motifs have 'expression' and 'coolness' when as such is desired by these miniaturists. Instrumentalistic critics could find in Jain-imagery and iconography motifs expressing emotions from surrealism to romanticism.
The above mentioned few of the factors of analogizing Jainminiatures with the modern plasticides should be viewed considering the limitation of the space of this paper. The arguments could be further advanced taking into the account many sided studies done in current aesthetic theories.
we