Kalighat Paintings

This distinctive style of watercolor on paper originated around 1800. An old Kali temple in South Calcutta grew in prominence around this time, and along with it, an artistic community evolved.

Bengali Hindu artists belonging to the patua community used industrially manufactured paper that was beginning to be manufactured, and watercolors. Since the local patua painters did not have much access to western techniques, they evolved a unique style.

The characteristics of pat painting include a single theme, an abstract, minimalistic style, and a blank background.

In time, a bolder, more energetic style emerged, through which artists depicted religious themes, as well as social themes such as hyprocrisy, domestic violence, or the westernization of men and women.