Theme and StyleTheme
The theme of Orissan painting centres round the Vaishnava cult. And for these, Jagannath, the main manifestation of Vishnu in the great temple of Puri in Orissa, is the major source of inspiration. The subject matter of Patta Chitra is mostly mythological, religious stories and folk lore. Themes are chiefly on Lord Jagannath and Radha-Krishna, though we also find a few Ramayana and Mahabharata themes in them. The individual paintings of gods and goddesses, different "Vesas" of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra, temple activities, the ten incarnations of Vishnu basing on the 'Gita Govinda' of Jayadev, Kama Kujara Naba Gunjara are also painted. High praise is given by art critics to Patta Chitra for their strange and fantastic pictorial conceptions, the pictorial and idiosyncratic conventions, the strange and summary system of line formulation and the deliberately wayward colour schemes."
Style
The Patta paintings of Orissa depict a compromise between folk and classical elements with leanings more towards folk forms . The dress style has Moughal influences. The figures stand in a stereotyped manner at times without any significant poses. All of the poses have been confined to a few well-defined postures. All of the poses have been confined to a few well-defined postures. These are not free from monotonous repetitions, though at times this is necessary to accentuate the narrative character of the style. The lines are bold and clean and angular and sharp. We do not find landscapes, perspectives and distant views. All the incidents are seen in close juxtaposition. The background on which the figures are represented, is delineated with decorations of flowers and foliages and is mostly painted in red colour. All the paintings are given decorative borders. The whole painting is conceived in the form of a design on a given canvas
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