A Kalighat painting of the goddess Kali, painted in opaque watercolour with tin-alloy highlighting on paper, in the loose, quick brushwork the style is known for. Kali is shown four-armed, one hand holding a man's severed head, in the bold, economical figure style bazaar artists working near the Kali temple at Kalighat, Kolkata developed from the mid-nineteenth century, stripping decoration back to just one or two figures against a plain ground for sale to temple pilgrims and visitors. The sheet was collected in Calcutta by J. Lockwood Kipling between 1865 and 1893 and given to the Victoria and Albert Museum by his son, the writer Rudyard Kipling, in 1917.
Facts
Custody
Current LocationVictoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, London (accession IM.2:73-1917) 1 Current CustodianVictoria and Albert Museum 1 Custody HistoryCollected in Calcutta by J. Lockwood Kipling between 1865 and 1893; given to the Victoria and Albert Museum by his son, Rudyard Kipling, in 1917. 1 Origins
Date of Creation RegionKalighat, Kolkata, Bengal 1 Subject Matter
Depicted SubjectThe goddess Kali, shown with four arms, one hand holding a severed head. 1 Physical Form
MediumOpaque watercolour and tin alloy on paper 1 Rights and Reproduction
Reproduction and CopyrightSourced to the subject's own accountThis painting is out of copyright, but a specific modern photograph of it carries its own separate copyright. This atlas describes and cites the work rather than reproducing an image of it. 2 Medium (class) Connections
Associated With
Source Kalighat Painting, Wikipedia
This source names Kolkata directly: "near the Kali temple at Kalighat, Kolkata developed from the mid-nineteenth century, stripping decoration back to just one or two figures against a plain ground for sale to temple pilgrims and..."
Source Kali, IM.2:73-1917 (Victoria and Albert Museum)
Belongs to Tradition
Source Kali, IM.2:73-1917 (Victoria and Albert Museum)
Derived: this work depicts a figure already recorded as belonging to this tradition; the work-to-tradition link is inferred from that live depicts edge and the figures own attested tradition affiliation, not independently sourced beyond it.
Depicts
Kali, Deities Source Kali, IM.2:73-1917 (Victoria and Albert Museum)
Kali, Figures Source Kali, IM.2:73-1917 (Victoria and Albert Museum)
Originated In
Source Kali, IM.2:73-1917 (Victoria and Albert Museum)
India, Regions Source Kali, IM.2:73-1917 (Victoria and Albert Museum)
Sources
1. Kali, IM.2:73-1917 (Victoria and Albert Museum)
Victoria and Albert MuseumPhysical description field, object record O404742
Painting, in opaque watercolour and tin alloy on paper, depicting Kali with four arms, one of which holds a man's severed head.
catalogue record, medium/object-type description
A Kalighat painting of the goddess Kali, painted in opaque watercolour with tin-alloy highlighting on paper, in the loose, quick brushwork the style is known for.
- Originated In: Bengal, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: Kalighat, Kolkata, Bengal
- Originated In: India, Stored country property on this entity, cited to this source: India
View the Source 2. Kalighat Painting, Wikipedia
WikipediaLead section, on the Kalighat patuas and the Kali temple origin
It was first practiced by a group of specialized scroll painters known as the patuas in the vicinity of the Kalighat Kali Temple in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), in the present Indian state of West Bengal.
- In Group: Kalighat Painting, own entity-description: "A Kalighat painting of the goddess Kali"
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