Jyoti Saini & Ila Gupta
Department of Humanities and Social Science, Department of Architecture and Planning
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee. Uttarakhand, India. Email ids: jyotisaini004@gmail.com, ilafap@gmail.com
Volume 1, Number 1, 2017 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/cjad.v1n1.v1n106
Abstract
India is symbolized by the diversity of its art and culture from epochs. From a global perspective, acculturation could be a topic of present day study for visual artists and other cultural practitioners. Cultural assimilation has been a much debated issue in respect of Indian paintings. Nowadays or even in the past, artists have been coming to India to be enamored by its natural beauty, culture, religious beliefs and philosophy, ceremonies and many more practices. Among these artists, one key figure from the last centenary was the Russian maverick- Nicholas Roerich, who was very much influenced by Indian cultural ethos. Roerich has done exercise with Indian theme in western techniques and depicted the several sights of beauty of nature and the figures in Indian style. Roerich has contributed significantly to Indian modern paintings during art- revivalism. The significance of portrayal of Indian style has been defined on theoretical perception of renowned art critics. Further, Indian miniature stylistic forms have been pointed out through handmade drawings with the help of Photoshop software as a tool. Thus, this paper is an attempt to critically evaluate the influence of Indian culture especially Hindu culture on the works of Nicholas Roerich.
Keywords: Nicholas Roerich, cultural assimilation, Indian art, Hindu religion