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

Question: Where are Vaushall Gardens? Why their gardens are famous in colonial history, due to work of art?

Answer:

1. The Vaushall Gardens are in London, the capital town of Britain.
2. One of the first history paintings of the colonial rule (in India) was produced by Francis Hayman in 1762 and placed on public display in the Vaushall Gardens in London.

The British had defeated Sirajuddaulah in 1757 in the famous Battle of Plassey (Bengal) and installed Mir Jafar as the Nawab of Murshidabad. It was a victory won through conspiracy and the traitor Mir Jafar was awarded the title of Nawab. It showed Lord Clive being welcomed by Mir Jafar and his troops after the Battle of Plassey.

Question: What was the picturesque? How far the European artists use this technique of painting in India?

Answer:

1. Picturesque: It was one of the popular imperial traditions (or techniques) of landscape painting.
2. Use of the European artists:
   (i) This style of painting was used by the European artists in India as a quaint land to be explored by travelling British artists; its landscape was rugged and wild, seemingly untamed by human hands.
   (ii) Thomas Daniell and his nephew William Daniell were the most famous artists who painted within this tradition. They came to Indian in 1785 and stayed for seven years, journeying from Calcutta to northern and southern India.
   (iii) Both these (uncle and nephew William) produced some of the most evocative picturesque landscape of Britain’s newly conquered territories in India.
   (iv) Their large oil paintings on canvas were regularly exhibited to select audiences in Britain and their albums of engravings were eagerly bought up by a British public keen to know about Britain’s empire.

Question: Explain the meaning of OP Art.

Answer: OP Art: It came as a reaction to the American Pop Art and as European response to it. Known as Retinal Art, it depends on purely visual impact. It was derived from Optical Art – an art which depends on the impact of lines, stripes, dots, circles, triangles, squares and other geometrical forms on the retine of the viewers Op art’s eye-tickling, eye-smarting and eye-wrenching. It has been created with the draftman’s ruler and compass mechanical gadgets.

Question: Discuss briefly the “New Forms of Imperial Art”.

New Forms of Imperial Art:

‘The Imperial Art’ that was prevalent in India during the British Colonial rule can be classified into three categories.

1. Landscape painting
2. Portrait painting
3. History painting

European artists came to India along with British Traders and rulers. New styles of painting were introduced by these artists. They began producing pictures of India which became widely popular in Europe and helped the Europeans understand India better.

European Artists’ style

1. They painted pictures that were exactly the same in reality
2. What the artists produced looked real and lifelike
3. European artists introduced the technique of oil painting which was unknown to the Indian artists
4. Oil paintings allow artists to produce picture that looked real.

The paintings done by European Artists highlighted the culture, the power and the people of Britain.