Warli Paintings

Context: Mashe Family have organized an exhibition of the Warli paintings in Delhi.  

• Jivya Soma Mashe is known as the father of Warli art since he popularized the art form beyond the Sahyadri Mountains in Maharashtra.

About Warli Painting

• Origin: Till the Seventies, the art form remained confined to the representation of joy and happiness of the Warli Tribes’ lives.
• It was traditionally practiced by women. 
• Method:
  • Layers of cow dung form the canvas. Dried canvas is painted in mud brown to create a background.
  • Bamboo-stick paint brushes are used to carve the art lines. Rejuvenation: Jivya Soma Mashe gave a new meaning to the art by capturing the constant cyclical movement of life on the canvas. 
  • These rudimentary paintings are made using a set of geometric shapes- a circle, a triangle, and a square. 
  • These shapes are considered to be symbolic of different elements found in nature which are-
    • The circle represents the sun and the moon. 
    • The triangle represents mountains and conical trees. 
    • The square is a human invention depicting a sacred enclosure or a piece of land.
    • The central motif in every ritual painting is a square known as the “chauk” or “chaukat”. 
• Theme of Warli Paintings: 
  • In Warli paintings, the central motif is depicted by scenes that portray hunting, fishing and Farming. 
  • Festivals and folk dances are also common scenes depicted through Warli art. 
  • People and animals represented in Warli’s paintings are depicted by two inverse triangles joined at their tips. 
  • The upper triangle represents the torso and the lower triangle represents the pelvis. This precarious equilibrium is meant to symbolise the balance of the universe. 
  • Apart from ritualistic paintings, Warli paintings also represent various daily activities village members perform.
• Social Importance of Warli Paintings: Mashe’s Warli art records important events and transmits local stories pictorially. The religious imagery shifted to narratives of tribal lives, values and self-expression. 
  • This art form has also helped tribals to reflect upon social injustices caused by the systems of power imbalances

Also Read: Indian Folk Paintings, here.

Source: The Hindu