Painting has an aesthetic appeal. It could also be said about paintings that it captures emotions in its bare form and gives it expressions. The style of painting differs from one region to the other and also from one period to another. Considered to be the visual documentation of human mind and experience it has been a common intrusion in the caves, temples, and palaces and cloth in the form of phadas, patachitras and coverlets. The Bengal pintings belong to this amazing category of Indian Paintings, which is popular all over the world. Bengal has been long proclaimed as a breeding ground for various Art movements. From the ancient Pata paintings to the Modern works of Jamini Roy and Nanda Lal Bose, the eclectic range of Bengal pantings developed and flourished with the passage of time.
Among the traditional Bengali folk paintings, mentionable ones are Pata Chitra and Patua painting. Pata Chitra is an ancient art form, which was an outcome of written communication on palm leaves. Prior to the days, when paper came to be in use, messages and letters were engraved out on palm leaves before being dispatched. Embellishment with illustrations started right after that and went on to become an art form itself. Most of the Pata Chitras were dominated with various themes that included scenes from the Hindu epics; Ramayana and Mahabharata Besides the mentioned themes, local legends and folklore too have found their way into Bengal paintings.
There is another kind of traditional Bengali Painting called Patua or Pata Paintings of West Bengal, which is popular for its amazing uniqueness. In this type of painting, the sheets of paper are sewn together and painted upon.
| These are also called scroll paintings or Pata paintings.
The narrations mainly include mythological stories but have been subjected to radical change in the recent times due to the changing tastes of customers. In recent times the painters have dealt with historical events, ecological disasters such as storms and floods and some of the paintings also commented on social issues. In the past this kind of painting was basically done on cloth, however the execution is now done on cheap handmade paper for catering commercial purpose.
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The scroll size of painting varies sometimes ranging from four feet to fifty feet as well. The average length of Patua painting is fifteen feet. The Pata is divided into vertical compartments, not necessarily of equal length. Each of the compartments narrates a different episode of the story. The Patas were painted by the Patuas. They visited villages in the past with their bag of scrolls, narrating stories and were paid in return for their performance.
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