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DECEMBER, 1911.] INDIAN PAINTING AT FESTIVAL OF EMPIRE
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INDIAN PAINTING AT THE FESTIVAL OF EMPIRE, 1911. BY VINCENT A. SMITH.
The contents of the Indian Court at the Festival of Empire in the grounds of the Crystal Palace, assembled by Colonel Hendley, C.I.E., with infinite trouble in the face of great difficulties, comprised many beautiful and interesting objects, fully described in the Guide and Catalogue. The most important, although not, perhaps, the most popular exhibits were those contributed by Dr. M. A. Stein, C.I.E., and Mrs. Herringham, illustrating the early history of Indian painting. Readers of the Indian Antiquary, who have not enjoyed opportunities of visiting the Festival of Empire or perusing the Guide and Catalogue may be glad to have some account of those two remarkable exhibits. We begin with Mrs. Herringham's contribution of 26 new copies of the Ajanța fresco paintings.
Ajanta Pictures.
"These copies from the Ajanta frescoes," Mrs. Herringham writes, "were made by myself and one English [Miss D. Larcher] and several Indian painters during the winter seasons of 1909-10 and 1910-112.... Previous copies have shown all the blemishes and holes in the plaster. We have thought it advisable, for the sake of the beauty of the composition and of intelligibility, to fill up the smaller holes. But though some people may call this a restoration, altering our work from literal copies to studies, I think we may claim that this omission of damage has been done very cautiously, and the unfinished look of the copies is the consequence of our restoring so little. A copy of a damaged picture must necessarily look like the copying of a badly painted or unfinished one. In reality, the technique of the original work is so sure and swift and perfect, that we, none of us, were good enough executants to repeat it...
Probably every part of every chamber was originally painted or intended to be painted. The principal remains now are in Viharas I, II, XVI, and XVII, and Chaityas IX X, XIX. . . . The aisles formed by the columns are to some extent thrown into sections by occasional piers, but except this there are no divisions between the paintings, nor are they surrounded by ornamental borders.
The paintings represent the tale or incidents in a sort of continuous manner. The same personages appear twice or more times, only grouped variously, according to the subject There are what one might call nucleus points-points of interest in the narration, and there is a certain amount of connecting links. The transition from episode to episode is managed by such a device, among many, as a man looking through or guarding a doorway, sometimes by the continuousness of the pictorial architectural background. The impression is not so much that the walls were surfaces to be decorated, but that they offered precious space on which the legends might be depicted for the edification of the devout..
1 Festival of Empire; Imperial Exhibition, Indian Section; Guide and Catalogue'; on sale at the Festival, price one shilling. Copies probably could be procured still either from the printers, Bemrose & Sons, Ltd., of Derby and London, or from Colonel Hendley, C.I.E., of 4, Loudoun Road, St. John's Wood, London, N. W. The special articles on Indian painting by Mrs. Herringham, Dr. Stein, and other contributors give the little book permanent value.
The Indians were Nandalal Bose, Samarendra Nath Gupta, Asit Kumar Haldar, and Syed Ahmed, the last named being helped by his students.
