The Kalighat paintings were very popular form of art in the past. The popularity can be judged from the fact that they were they were replicated by the German lithography on glazed paper and inundated which resulted in the demise of this art form. There aren't any practioners of the traditional art form.
The art of floor painting in Andhra Pradesh is known as muggulu. Each day of the week has a selected design or symbol associated with it: shivpith for Monday, kalipith for Tuesday, swastika for Wednesday, Lakshmi for Friday, and so on. The basic motifs include the lotus, the swastika, conch shells, and discs. The Shri figures are very prominent here";" Shri is another name for Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune, who is also the goddess of fertility. Shri also represents the centre of a mystic grille of geometric patterns.
These paintings depict the rich culture of Mughals as its being carried out since the Mughal era. Traditionally this art is done on the sliced ivory pieces. Miniatures are also done on cuff links , filigree silver boxes, trinket boxes made of teak and on other souvenir items. All these items carry the delicate art with fascinating tales of Mughal culture.
This is a traditional craft practiced mainly at Cheriyal in Warangal district. The method of painting is traditional and the themes are derived from Indian mythology. It is assumed to have come down from Vishwakarma, the divine. The art form is believed to have come down from Vishwakarma, the great architect of the artisans.
Rogan painting is now practised only in Biber in northern Kachchh. Hand-pounded castor oil is turned into coloured dyes by a complex process, which are then used to decorate cushion covers, bedspreads and curtains with simple geometric patterns.
The Kangra style is by far the most poetic and lyrical of Indian styles, says art historian J. C. Harle.
His favourite subject here is ‘the idealization of woman, in flowing sari, head half-covered with a shawl, demure but stately, passionate and shy’. The more complex many-figured compositions – usually larger and horizontal in format – tend to illustrate events from the Krishna legend – the cowherd god putting out a forest fire, subduing the serpent Kaliya, or stealing the clothes of gopis (milkmaids of Braj) while they were bathing in the river.
The coming of painters from the Mughal court in the second quarter of the 18th century (due to the decline of the Mughal Empire) led to a complete transformation of the existing Basholi style.
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There was a wholesale ferrying in of Mughal style and fashion, from dress to architecture to the arts. The resultant was the Guler-Kangra style.
The style owes a great deal to later Mughal painting, particularly in its receding planes, its fondness for quasi-realistic landscape and its frequent enlargement of the figures on the page.
The early Pahari paintings of the mid-17th century were in the Basholi style (dubbed so because of its association with the king of Basholi).
These are extraordinarily colourful and charged with vitality and emotion. Two persistent strains can be observed – a fondness for the portraits of the local rajas in plain white garments and for the gods of the Hindu pantheon.
The paintings bear resemblance to Rajasthani and Malwa paintings but this can be attributed to the fact that the kings of the princely states in Himachal were Rajputs.
Some of the telling characteristics are the use of extremely elegant two-dimensional architectural settings topped by domes or pavilions, bands of scrollwork pattern and the use of elaborately figured rugs.
The paintings in Ajanta Caves are outstandingly beautiful, they belong to the diffused art style of China & Japan. The Ajanta paintings were painted by the Buddhist Monks who turned the stone walls into picture books of Buddha's life & teachings. These Buddhist artists have portrayed the costumes, ornaments & styles of the court life of their times.
Gemstone painting is a 200 year old art form developed in Rajasthan which emphasizes the usage of colors derived from natural gemstones to create vivid and colorful designs. This art form uses the precious stones and their blazing hues as a natural palette.
This style of painting is aided by the fact that the state of Rajasthan is a natural repository of precious and semiprecious stones. Jaipur is especially renowned for this form of art and painting. Beautiful Rajasthani women, deities and Mughal court scenes are the main themes of Rajasthani Gemstone Paintings.