NCERT Solutions for Class 8 Social Science History The Changing World of Visual Arts

1. Fill in the blanks :

(a) The art form which observed carefully and tried to capture exactly what the eye saw is called _________.

Ans: The art form which observed carefully and tried to capture exactly what the eye saw is called Portraiture.

(b) The style of painting which showed the Indian landscape as a quaint, unexplored land is called _________.

Ans: The style of painting which showed the Indian landscape as a quaint, unexplored land is called picturesque.

(c) Paintings which showed the social lives of Europeans in India are called _________.

Ans: Paintings which showed the social lives of Europeans in India are called Kalighat paintings.

(d) Paintings which depicted scenes from British imperial history and their victories are called_________.

Ans: Paintings which depicted scenes from British imperial history and their victories are called history paintings.

2. Point out which of the following were brought in with British art:
(a) oil painting
(b) miniatures
(c) life-size portrait painting
(d) use of perspective
(e) mural art.

Ans: (a) Oil painting, (c) life-size portrait painting and (d) use of perspective.

3. Describe in your own words one painting from this chapter which suggests that the British were more powerful than Indians. How does the artist depict this?

Ans:

• This painting painted by David Wilkie shows the discovery of the body of Tipu Sultan by the British General, David Baird after Tipu Sultan was defeated in the fourth Anglo Mysore war.
• This painting shows the superiority and dominance of the British over the Indians.
• In this painting, the British General is shown as if standing on a high pedestal and exuding all the confidence. The might of the British empire is visibly marked in the paintings to establish a strong root in Indian soil.
• On the other hand, Tipu Sultan is shown half-naked and lifeless; lying in the dark recess. The painting appears to announce that those who dare to challenge the British authority would meet the same fate.

4. Why did the scroll painters and potters come to Kalighat? Why did they begin to paint new themes?

Ans:

• Calcutta was expanding as a commercial and administrative centre by the early nineteenth century, This was marked by the construction of new buildings and roads.
• Many people came and settled in the city due to the availability of many new jobs perspective which the city provided.
• Village artists including scroll painters and potters came and settled in the city in the hope of finding new patrons and new buyers of their art.
• After 1840, a new trend was visible within the Kalighat artists. Kalighat painters began to depict social life under the British rule.
• Living in a society where values, tastes, social norms and customs were undergoing rapid changes, Kalighat artists responded to the world around and produced paintings on social and political themes.

5. Why can we think of Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings as national?

Ans:

• Raja Ravi Verman was a painter who aimed at creating a style which was an amalgamation of both the national and the modern art.
• He used the Western art of oil painting and realistic life study to paint themes from Indian mythology.
• He dramatised on canvas scene after scene from the Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. This portrayal of an Indian consciousness is what makes his paintings national. This was perhaps one of the reasons why his paintings were popular not only among Indian princes and art collectors but also among the masses.

6. In what way did the British history paintings in India reflect the attitudes of imperial conquerors?

Ans:

• The British history paintings in India reflected the attitudes of imperial conquerors.
• The British history paintings sought to dramatise and recreate various episodes of British imperial history.
• These paintings celebrated the British power, their victories and their supremacy.
• They aimed at creating paintings which could leave an everlasting impression of the British victories not only among the people of Indian but also among the British public.
• This was a way in which the British could show themselves as powerful and invincible.

7. Why do you think some artists wanted to develop a national style of art?

Ans: The main aim of many Indian painters was to establish a connection between art and nationalism. Thus, they wanted to develop a style which would not only be able to imbibe some of the modern techniques of painting but also retain main features of Indian art. The paintings of Ravi Varma were rejected as they seemed like imitating western ideas. Some artists felt that his art was unsuitable for depicting the nations ancient myths and legends. They felt that a genuine Indian style of painting had to draw inspiration from non-Western art traditions and try to capture the spiritual essence of the East. These artists broke away from the convention of oil painting and the realistic style and turned for inspiration to medieval Indian traditions of miniature painting and the ancient art of mural painting in the Ajanta caves. Some of the paintings of Rabindranath Tagore were influenced by the Rajput miniature and Ajanta style of painting

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

Ans: The mechanical printing presses were set up in different parts of India by the late nineteenth century allowed prints to be produced in large numbers than produced by manual labour. The introduction of the mechanical printing press led to the production of prints in large numbers. Paintings became so cheap that even poor were able to buy them now The popular prints of the early twentieth century carried the nationalist messages to far and wide. Such popular prints would have inspired people to fight British rule. Thus the prints could create a platform for the spread nationalist ideas across the regions of India