Stylogenyin the style of Indian Calendar & Bazaar Art

Traditions & vernacular · 1878–present · South Asia

Indian Calendar & Bazaar Art

Also known as Bazaar art, Calendar art, Oleographs, God posters

Mass-printed images of Hindu deities, epic scenes, saints, nationalist heroes and film stars, sold in bazaars and given away as business calendars, from the chromolithographs of the Calcutta Art Studio and Ravi Varma Press to Sivakasi offset. Frontal, idealised figures painted with academic naturalism glow against dreamy landscapes, in saturated colour with gold, haloes and ornate frames above the sponsor's name and calendar pad.

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A sample layout drawn from the style’s design choices. Its AI image is held back until someone who knows the tradition has checked it.

Use it with care

These are devotional images that many viewers worship, so do not crop, distort or deface deities or place them on footwear, floors, underwear or in mocking contexts. Many original painters went uncredited; name the artist and press where known.

01

How it works

  • Place a frontal, idealised deity or hero at the centre, gazing straight out at the viewer.
  • Model figures with soft academic naturalism (luminous skin, rich fabrics) against an idealised landscape or temple setting.
  • Saturate the colour and add gold, haloes and radiating light around the central figure.
  • Reserve a band at the foot for the sponsor's name and calendar pad, set in bold display lettering.
  • Frame the image with ornate borders, garlands and drapery.

Calcutta and Bombay lithographic presses; later Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu

02

Its design choices

From Stylogeny’s vocabulary of design choices: defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

Layout & composition
Space & hierarchy
Typography
Colour
Form & shape
Surface & texture
Ornament
Imagery
Medium & production
Tone & intent
Avoids
Dynamic asymmetry, Generous white space, Non-representational, Monochrome, Flat, Ornament-free

Palette

  • #e8822a
  • #c8202f
  • #1e6fa3
  • #d4a537
  • #e58aa0
  • #2e6b3c

Typefaces

  • Hand-drawn Devanagari display lettering

  • Hand-lettered Tamil and Bengali titles

  • Bold Latin display faces (slab and Tuscan styles) for sponsor names

Known for

  • Calcutta Art Studio

    founded 1878

  • Raja Ravi Varma and the Ravi Varma Fine Art Lithographic Press

    Bombay, 1894

  • C. Kondiah Raju

    painter for Sivakasi and Madurai litho presses

  • S. M. Pandit

  • S. S. Brijbasi & Sons

    print publishers

03

Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

Before it

The style it grew out of, and the styles it borrowed from.

This styleIndian Calendar & Bazaar Art1878–present · South Asia

After it

The styles that grew out of it.

Alike in its design choices

Styles that make many of the same choices, related or not, besides those above.

04

Real works

Artefacts in museums, libraries and archives that show the style, linked at their source.

05

Sources

  1. Kajri Jain, Gods in the Bazaar: The Economies of Indian Calendar Art (Duke University Press, 2007)
  2. Christopher Pinney, 'Photos of the Gods': The Printed Image and Political Struggle in India (2004)
  3. https://imp-art.org/glossary/calcutta-art-studio/
  4. Wikipedia: Kalighat painting (Calcutta studio lithographs and German oleographs imitated, then displaced, Kalighat pats): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalighat_painting

How Stylogeny researches and checks a style: where the facts come from.