Contemporary Interpretations of Chitrakathi Art

The art of Chitrakathi, story art, is associated with performances and storytelling by showing the relevant picture, while telling a story to an audience.

Today, this art also stands on its own as a form demanding to be recognised for its own traditional roots and charm.

Chitrakathi is now made on handmade or mill made paper.

Poster colours are generally used which give a brighter appearance when compared to old paintings, which were done with mineral or herbal colours.

The outlining comes last, often leaving some ‘spread’ of water colour outside the outline.

This sometimes adds to somewhat hazy or patchy sections of the painting which are neither mistakes or unintentional.

Artist Eknath Gangawane does a Chitrakathi painting.

Traditional subjects are painted, but contemporary themes are created as required by the buyers.

The subject matter of the new Chitrakathi art remains similar to the old.

Stories and characters from the Mahabharata and Ramayana are most popular and prominent.

However, they have been innovative enough to attempt some folk interpretations of animals which are painted as smaller wall art pieces.

The Gangawane family say that many visitors ask for books on their art form but since these are not available, they ventured into making book marks instead.

Postcards are a new product in Chitrakathi art. They are made to suit tourists who come to their small establishment to discover this long forgotten art form.

Small bookmarks are also souvenir items available at the chitrakathi museum created by the artist family through love of their art and heritage.

Chitrakathi puppets have been photographed and turned into bookmarks as souvenirs for visitors whom the Chitrakathi artists welcome through their own websites.

Paintings have also been converted into digital prints on t-shirts.

Apart from merchandise, the community did a wall art, which is written in Devanagari script and painted with Chitrakathi art in it.

Chitrakathi art can also be spotted done on the trees around Gangawane's museum.

Read more about Chitrakathi Art here:

- Chitrakathi Art in Pinguli
- Old Chitrakathi Art