Jatayu hinders Ravana’s chariot trying to prevent Sita’s abduction (recto), from a Kalighat album

1890

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Impressionism Realism Late 19th Century Bengal Kalighat Kolkata

Dominant colour

Jatayu hinders Ravana’s chariot trying to prevent Sita’s abduction (recto), from a Kalighat album is a 1890 by Shri Gobinda Chandra Roy, a Impressionism work, depicting Bengal, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Shri Gobinda Chandra Roy
When & what style?: 1890 · Impressionism
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see a bold, flat picture of a ten-headed demon flying off with a woman while a giant bird claws at his chariot. This was a cheap woodcut sold on Kolkata streets in the 1800s—anyone could buy one. Missionaries had brought the paper for Bibles, but artists used it for Hindu stories instead. The bright colors and simple shapes made the scene easy to recognize at a glance. Look up kalighat to find more of these quick, lively street pictures.

The story of this work

Overview

As ten-headed Ravana successfully flies away with his quarry, Princess Sita, the demon king is stopped by the great vulture Jatayu, an ally to Sita’s husband Rama. Closely resembling the Bengali paintings of the same subject, a woodcut print was a less expensive alternative to a painting. Almost any resident of the burgeoning city of Calcutta (now Kolkata) could afford to acquire one. Woodcuts such as this were made on paper that Christian missionaries intended for the production of Bibles. However, local artists used it to mass-produce popular Hindu imagery.