| Story Text | [{"record_id":"0","storytext":"Self proclaimed \u2018wandering gypsy\u2019, Kanwal Krishna (1910\u20141993) approached the genre of landscape painting with a unique modern sensibility. In the heat of the summer, Krishna visually brings the cold breeze and clear skies of the Hindukush to us through his portrayal of the Chitral valley. Zoom into the details to experience the historically and naturally rich landscape of Chitral.","initialize":"true","storytextauthor":"Shreeja Sen"},{"record_id":"1","storytext":"Kanwal Krishna\u2019s landscapes belong to a period in Indian art that was undergoing a radical shift by challenging the academic norms of the time, spearheaded by groups of Progressive artists in various parts of the country. An alumnus of the Bombay J. J. School of Art, Krishna might have followed this progressive tide as many of his contemporaries did, but instead he chose the life of a nomadic painter, breaking from tradition but in his own way. ","initialize":"true","storytextauthor":""},{"record_id":"2","storytext":"This painting depicts the landscape of Chitral valley, as evident in the inscription. Dated June 1945, it is a work from Krishna\u2019s travels across Afghanistan, the Khyber pass, the Swat valley and surrounding areas with his wife, artist Devyani Krishna, upon the invitation of the Governor of North Western Frontier Province Sir George Cunningham.","initialize":"true","storytextauthor":""},{"record_id":"3","storytext":"The most immediately striking feature of this view is the monumentality of the rocks. Krishna\u2019s play with perspective shines through as the viewer is left feeling dwarved by the towering mountainous formations ","initialize":"true","storytextauthor":""},{"record_id":"4","storytext":"Chitral is a historically complex site which has been ruled by the Buddhist ruler of the Kushan empire, Kanishka, overrun by the Chinese in the fourth century, conquered by Arabs, ruled by the Raees dynasty and then the Katoors, finally to become a part of the North West Frontier Province during British rule. The painting however, captures only the timeless guardianship of the Hindukush range over the valley, with no hint of human intervention in the landscape.","initialize":"true","storytextauthor":""},{"record_id":"5","storytext":"Kanwal Krishna\u2019s landscapes were inspired by travel. His mastery over depth shines through in his portrayal of the undulating ridges on the rock faces\u2014their curvature and angularity distinguishable as if one could almost see the sunlight wash over them","initialize":"true","storytextauthor":""},{"record_id":"6","storytext":"The North West Frontier province of the British empire, the present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, is a resource-rich region. The Chitral valley, specifically, is minerally rich. Krishna\u2019s brushstrokes and carefully chosen colour palette bring to life the textures of the environment, giving a sense of tactility in terms of smoothness and roughness in a two-dimensional surface","initialize":"true","storytextauthor":""},{"record_id":"7","storytext":"Krishna is particularly sensitive to tonality. He manipulates pigment as deftly as he plays with perspective, differentiating between rock types with mere touches of different shades ","initialize":"true","storytextauthor":""},{"record_id":"8","storytext":"The outdoor environment, especially serene, static views such as these, come to life in Krishna\u2019s hands as his dexterity with depth creates areas of light and shadow that makes the landscape reverberate with a sense of the sun\u2019s movement across the sky","initialize":"true","storytextauthor":""},{"record_id":"9","storytext":"Mountains and hillscapes stand out in Krishna\u2019s ouevre, not least because of his travels across the Hindukush and the Himalayas. Unlike his predecessors that recorded terrains through their paintings in an effort to aid the British mission of scopic control, Krishna maps the mountains with a distinct loyalty to outdoor environmental conditions but also with a style that conveys the inhospitable and impenetrable nature of the scenes with a sense of awe. In doing so, he marries realism to affect. ","initialize":"true","storytextauthor":""},{"record_id":"10","storytext":"Another visually distinct shift from earlier landscape traditions is Krishna\u2019s view of the horizon. The mountains here disrupt the horizon, visually obscuring any scopic lens aimed at viewing these lands, reducing them to their potential for material benefits, as a culturally and ecologically neutral space. Krishna projects these mountains to his viewers as a limit to be overcome in the quest for the unknown wonders of the natural world. ","initialize":"true","storytextauthor":""}] |
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| Art Artist Names Single | Kanwal Krishna |
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