Indian folk and tribal art forms

Warli

From the Warli communities of Maharashtra, this is the most minimal of all Indian folk arts and the easiest to begin. Figures are built entirely from three shapes: the circle for the sun and moon, the triangle for mountains and trees, and the line.

Human figures are two triangles joined at a point with a circle for the head. Traditionally painted in white rice paste on walls washed with mud and cow dung, giving the characteristic white-on-earth-brown palette.

Subjects are daily life rather than deities: farming, fishing, weddings, and the tarpa dance, where figures spiral outward in a circle around a musician. For a young child this is an outstanding first traditional art form.

Gond

From the Gond communities of Madhya Pradesh, this style fills every form with dense repeated patterns of dots, dashes, curved lines, and fish-scale marks, producing a strong sense of vibration and movement.

Subjects are drawn from the natural and spiritual world: trees, birds, deer, tigers, and the stories attached to them. Colors are vivid and unnaturalistic. The contemporary form owes a great deal to the artist Jangarh Singh Shyam, whose work brought it to galleries worldwide.

Kalamkari

Kalamkari, from Andhra Pradesh, is done on cloth using natural dyes, and exists in two distinct branches. The Srikalahasti style is drawn freehand with a bamboo pen, the kalam, and depicts mythological narratives. The Machilipatnam style is block printed and more decorative.

The process is genuinely elaborate, involving multiple stages of treating the cloth, drawing, and dyeing, with mordants that develop color through washing. Classes often teach a simplified version, which is reasonable, but ask so you know what you are getting.

Scroll traditions: Pattachitra and Phad

Pattachitra, from Odisha and West Bengal, is painted on treated cloth with natural pigments, with intricate borders and themes drawn largely from Jagannath and Krishna. The linework is precise and the palette restrained to a few traditional colors.

Phad, from Rajasthan, is a long narrative scroll depicting the epics of folk deities such as Pabuji, traditionally carried by travelling performers who sang the story while illuminating sections by lamplight. Both traditions are storytelling devices as much as paintings.

Pichwai and Kalighat

Pichwai comes from Nathdwara in Rajasthan, painted on cloth to hang behind the image of Shrinathji, and is dense with lotuses, cows, and seasonal festival scenes.

Kalighat painting emerged in nineteenth century Kolkata around the Kalighat temple, made quickly and cheaply for pilgrims. Its bold sweeping brushwork and frequently satirical take on contemporary city life make it unlike the more formal traditions, and it is unusually appealing to teenagers.

Which to start with

For young children, Warli first. The vocabulary is tiny, the results are immediately recognizable, and there is nothing to get wrong.

For older children who enjoy detail and patience, Gond or Madhubani. For teenagers interested in narrative or in art with an edge, Pattachitra or Kalighat.

Availability is limited outside Madhubani and Warli, so if a local teacher offers Gond or Kalamkari, that is worth taking when you find it rather than waiting.