CBSE Class 12 Applied Art (Commercial Art)
Chapters: 3
1. Indian Miniature Painting
Rajasthani school · Pahari school · Mughal school · Deccan school
- Indian Miniature Painting: Small Pictures, Big Detail – Indian miniature paintings are small, detailed pictures painted on paper (earlier on palm leaf) for books and albums. Artists used colours ground from stones and plants, real gold, and very fine squirrel-hair brushes, and they painted in layers. From the 1500s four big families grew: Mughal, Rajasthani, Pahari and Deccan. The Rajasthani school grew in Rajput courts like Mewar, Bundi, Kota, Kishangarh, Jodhpur, Bikaner and Jaipur, each with its own colours and faces.
- Pahari School of Painting: From Bold Basohli to Gentle Kangra – Pahari painting means painting from the small hill kingdoms of the Himalayan foothills, made from the late 1600s to the 1800s. It began with the bold Basohli style: flat red, yellow and blue, red borders and huge eyes. Then an artist family from Guler, Pandit Seu and his sons Manaku and Nainsukh, brought calmer, more natural drawing. This grew into the Kangra style: soft colours, graceful figures, rivers, trees and moonlight, often telling Radha-Krishna love stories.
- Mughal School of Painting: Persian Finesse Meets Indian Life – Mughal painting grew in the courts of the Mughal emperors from the mid-1500s. Humayun brought two Persian masters; Akbar built a large workshop of Indian artists who worked in teams on story and history books. Jahangir wanted true-to-life portraits and nature studies. Shah Jahan liked grand, formal court scenes with gold and rich borders. Mughal artists mixed Persian detail, Indian colour and some European depth, and later spread this style to other courts.
- Deccan School of Painting: Gold Skies and Tall Figures – Deccan painting grew from the late 1500s in the courts of the Deccan sultanates, Ahmadnagar, Bijapur and Golconda, and later in Hyderabad. It mixed Persian and Turkish art, local southern traditions and, later, Mughal ideas. Its marks are tall, slim figures in local dress, rich purple, green and gold, high horizons with golden skies, domed buildings and many flowers. The mood is dreamy and poetic.
2. Bengal School and Modern Trends in Indian Art
National Flag and artists in the freedom movement · Bengal school · Modern Indian art
- The Bengal School of Art – The Bengal School was an Indian art movement of the early 1900s. It began in Kolkata around 1905, led by Abanindranath Tagore. Art schools of that time taught only European oil painting. Bengal School artists turned back to Indian roots: Ajanta murals, Mughal and Rajput miniatures, and ideas from Japanese wash painting. They used soft, thin layers of watercolour (the wash technique), graceful lines and Indian themes from myth, history, poetry and daily life. Key artists: Abanindranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, M.A.R. Chughtai and Ram Gopal Vijaivargiya.
- Modern Indian Art: Paintings, Prints and Sculptures – Modern Indian art covers roughly 1880 to 1990. Painters went from the European realism of Raja Ravi Varma to the folk lines of Jamini Roy, the Paris-plus-Ajanta style of Amrita Sher-Gil and the bold modernism of M.F. Husain. Printmakers like Somnath Hore, Jyoti Bhatt, Anupam Sud and Laxma Goud used etching, woodcut and screen print. Sculptors like D.P. Roy Chowdhury, Ramkinkar Baij, Amarnath Sehgal and P.V. Janakiram worked in bronze, cement and welded metal. Each found a new, personal way to show Indian life.
3. Applied Art Practical
Illustration · Poster · Portfolio
- Illustration: From Life Sketch to Printed Picture – An illustration is a picture made to explain or decorate a text, story, product or idea: a book picture, a magazine drawing, a label or a poster. Good illustration starts from life: you look at real people, objects and places, often sketching outdoors. You build the picture in stages: light lines for shape and proportion, then tone (light and shadow), then a finish in pencil, pen and ink, watercolour or digital tools. For print, the illustration must be clean, at the right size, with a limited number of flat colours.
- Poster Design: Making a Poster People Notice and Understand – A poster is a large sheet that shares one message with people walking past. It has only about three seconds to catch them. A good poster starts with a clear goal and audience, then a simple grid. The headline is the biggest thing, one strong picture is the focal point, and the small details tell what, when and where, with a call to action. Two or three colours with strong contrast keep it easy to read from a distance. The same planning works for exhibition panels and folded brochures.
- Art Portfolio: Record, Evaluate and Reflect on Your Work – A portfolio is a collection of your creative work that shows your journey, from first ideas through sketches, tests and drafts to finished pieces. Keep a process record (sketchbook or digital journal) with dates and notes, including failed tests. Describe each work by what it is, how you made it and why you made your choices, using art vocabulary. Evaluate it with clear criteria such as idea, skill, composition and originality, giving evidence for every judgement and a target to improve. Reflect on your development over time and link it to experiences like exhibitions, performances and workshops, and to what they mean for your own cultural growth. Finally, present it clearly as a talk, a short film or a written dossier.