NCERT 8th Class (CBSE) Social Science: Changes In The Arts

Question: Why did some artists produce cheap popular prints? What influence would such prints have had on the minds of people who looked at them?

Answer: By the late nineteenth century, mechanical printing presses were set up in different parts of India. This allowed prints to be produced in large numbers. These prints could therefore be sold cheap in the market. As a result, even the poor could buy them. With the spread of nationalism, the popular prints of the early twentieth century began carrying nationalist messages. Such popular prints would have inspired people to fight British rule.

Question: What is meant by the term “work of art”? What is its relation with the world around it?

Answer:

1. A painting, sculpture, music, dance etc.
2. It may not obvious that like most other things art too is influenced by the world around it.

Question: Which new art forms were introduced by the colonial rule in India? What was their impact on Indian artists?

Answer: Colonial rule introduced several new art forms, styles, materials and techniques which were creatively adapted by Indian artists for local patrons and markets, in both elite and popular circles.

Question: Which visual forms had their origin in the colonial period?

Answer: We find that many of the visual forms that you take for granted today – say, a grand public building with domes, columns and arches; a scenic landscape, the realistic human image in a portrait, or in popular icons of gods and goddesses; a mechanically printed and mass produced picture-their origins in the colonial period.

Question: Explain the meaning of the word / term “realism” relating it with the work of art or painting.

Answer: Realism was a belief or an idea for the European artists (who brought in India) that artists had to observe carefully and depict faithfully what the eye saw. What the artist produced was expected to look real and lifelike.

Question: Explain,”European artists and the technique of oil painting”.

Answer: European artists brought with them the technique of oil painting – a technique with which Indian artists were not very familiar. Oil painting enabled artists to produce images that looked real.

Question: Write one negative point of inspiration of the British artists In India.

Answer: The subjects of all European artists, they painted, were varied but invariably they seemed to emphasize the superiority of British – its culture, its people, its power etc.

Question: What is meant by term / word “engraving”?

Answer: A picture printed onto paper from a piece of wood or metal into which the design or drawing has been cut, is called engraving.