Sometimes we don’t realize the specialty of the things we commonly see in our day to day life because it becomes so regular that we don’t even get a second thought about it. One such unnoticed marvel is the Warli painting. It has the potential to stand par with the renowned fabric art form Kalamkari. In fact, it has a rich history than Kalamkari and makes an interesting journey from being a tribal art form, to how it got itself printed in the fabrics, creating a trendy fashion.
History of Warli:
The name Warli denotes the tribe Warli, which is spread across the Maharashtra and Gujarat area. The world paintings are of mural forms, drawn on the ochre-colored hut walls made of wood and earth. The style of Warli painting can be compared with the famous prehistoric cave paintings of Bhimbetka.
Like any other art form of India, this tribal painting too was initially portrayed by the womenfolk of the tribe. While men were busy in hunting and gathering, women who stayed behind in the huts started spending their leisure time in decorating the walls with their imagination which later got refined into the famous Warli painting.
Interesting facts about Warli:
Warli painting is composed of depictions of daily life familiarities like nature, animals, hunting, farming, festivals etc. Not much artistic curves and cuts are used in it, instead, three geometrical figures - circle, triangle and square alone are majorly used. A circle is used to depict the face of a human while an upside-down triangle forms the upper part of the body and upward triangle forms the lower part, both connected at the tip.
Interestingly the circle was inspired by the sun and moon, the triangle from mountains. This shows how well the people were integrated with nature. Only the square remains unpredictable and is believed to be the evolution of humanity. Another unique feature of Warli is that only white color is used in the paintings. And it is generally a paste made out of rice and a special gum is used for the binding purpose.
Worship of Palaghata:
Palaghata is the goddess signifying fertility is worshipped by the Warli tribals. It shows how the people worshipped womanhood and treated them with love and respect. In the festival of Palaghata, a huge procession is led by the people, where a lengthy musical instrument resembling Shenoy is played by a musician. Both men and women, joining hands together, forms circles and dances for the music. This social gathering forms the main theme of the Warli painting.
Jivya Soma Mashe:
The warli painting also shares the same journey of how other art forms practiced by folklore turned into artistic and commercial aspects. Warli skipped the hut walls and transformed itself into the canvas, denoting the stepping of it into modern terms. Jivya Soma Mashe is the man behind the overwhelming popularity of Warli. He is the one who realized the aesthetic value of this ancient painting style and took it to the next level of art form.
Like Kalamkari, it also uses bamboo sticks chewed at one end as the pen to draw paintings. Also similarly found a place in sarees, ethnic wears, curtains, bedspreads etc. Warli paintings teach us about the bond between humans and nature, thus reminding us of how thankful we should be towards nature and how to save the nature becomes our moral responsibility. Not only that, it also insists us to lead a community life and to preserve the ‘we feeling’. More importantly, we can visualize Warli style in most of the government advertisements thus recognizing its importance.
Also Read:
KALAMKARI – Traditional art form transformed into a fabric fashion
WRITTERN BY SOCIAL AUTHOR: PRABHA KATHAMUTHU
History of Warli:
The name Warli denotes the tribe Warli, which is spread across the Maharashtra and Gujarat area. The world paintings are of mural forms, drawn on the ochre-colored hut walls made of wood and earth. The style of Warli painting can be compared with the famous prehistoric cave paintings of Bhimbetka.
Like any other art form of India, this tribal painting too was initially portrayed by the womenfolk of the tribe. While men were busy in hunting and gathering, women who stayed behind in the huts started spending their leisure time in decorating the walls with their imagination which later got refined into the famous Warli painting.
Interesting facts about Warli:
Warli painting is composed of depictions of daily life familiarities like nature, animals, hunting, farming, festivals etc. Not much artistic curves and cuts are used in it, instead, three geometrical figures - circle, triangle and square alone are majorly used. A circle is used to depict the face of a human while an upside-down triangle forms the upper part of the body and upward triangle forms the lower part, both connected at the tip.
Interestingly the circle was inspired by the sun and moon, the triangle from mountains. This shows how well the people were integrated with nature. Only the square remains unpredictable and is believed to be the evolution of humanity. Another unique feature of Warli is that only white color is used in the paintings. And it is generally a paste made out of rice and a special gum is used for the binding purpose.
Worship of Palaghata:
Palaghata is the goddess signifying fertility is worshipped by the Warli tribals. It shows how the people worshipped womanhood and treated them with love and respect. In the festival of Palaghata, a huge procession is led by the people, where a lengthy musical instrument resembling Shenoy is played by a musician. Both men and women, joining hands together, forms circles and dances for the music. This social gathering forms the main theme of the Warli painting.
Jivya Soma Mashe:
The warli painting also shares the same journey of how other art forms practiced by folklore turned into artistic and commercial aspects. Warli skipped the hut walls and transformed itself into the canvas, denoting the stepping of it into modern terms. Jivya Soma Mashe is the man behind the overwhelming popularity of Warli. He is the one who realized the aesthetic value of this ancient painting style and took it to the next level of art form.
Like Kalamkari, it also uses bamboo sticks chewed at one end as the pen to draw paintings. Also similarly found a place in sarees, ethnic wears, curtains, bedspreads etc. Warli paintings teach us about the bond between humans and nature, thus reminding us of how thankful we should be towards nature and how to save the nature becomes our moral responsibility. Not only that, it also insists us to lead a community life and to preserve the ‘we feeling’. More importantly, we can visualize Warli style in most of the government advertisements thus recognizing its importance.
Also Read:
KALAMKARI – Traditional art form transformed into a fabric fashion
WRITTERN BY SOCIAL AUTHOR: PRABHA KATHAMUTHU
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