Man twisting thread
Singh Kehar
Description
In the second half of the nineteenth century, as the English gained more control of India, some among them commissioned Indian artists to depict scenes of local manners and customs. The Indian painters in turn adapted a more naturalistic, documentary style to accommodate their new patrons, and the resulting body of work is known as “Company Style” (after the British East India Company).
The painter Kehar Singh, to whom this work is attributed, is known for a number of skillful and probing studies of the peoples of northwest India and what is today Pakistan. Following English tastes, Singh works in translucent wash, which is very different from the opaque watercolor used in traditional Indian painting.
Exhibited in "Divine Encounters, Earthly Pleasures: Twenty Centuries of Indian Art," 12/12/03-2/22/04.
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