Art Plantae: Plants in Indian Art

Create Your First Project

Start adding your projects to your portfolio. Click on "Manage Projects" to get started

Art Plantae: Plants in Indian Art

Ashoka University

2018–21

The course structure looks at various aspects of plant depiction, symbolism, decoration, and cultural patterning in India. The modules include Sacred Trees–Magic and Mythology; Plants in Cosmology; Gardens and Groves; The Mughal buta; Chintz patterns and Trade Textiles; and Botanical Art from the 19th century.

The practical sessions of the course focus on the detailing and style of Botanical portraiture and then venture into stylisation for developing textile and sculptural patterns.

The lotus is a recurrent motif in Indian art due to its symmetry, beauty and sacred symbolism. Here we look at sculpture, Rajput painting and then a botanical study of the flower itself to understand its structure.

The manner of rendering foliage varies in genre and time. Trees can be stylised in bold two-dimensionality, or in softer, shaded almost
3-D effect. It is also interesting to look at the changing role of gardens in literature and poetry.

India was a centre for textiles and renowned for the painted and dyed fabric called Chintz. How did the traditional dyers understand and interpret European notions of flora?

.pro-gallery-wix-wrapper {display: block !important;} .pro-gallery-wix-wrapper .gallery-item-container {opacity: 1 !important; display: block !important;}

Malini Saigal

Create Your First Project

Art Plantae: Plants in Indian Art