# Kalighat Pat & Battala Bazaar Prints

> The bazaar art of nineteenth-century Calcutta: watercolours sold to pilgrims by patua painters at the Kalighat temple, and the cheap woodcuts and metal engravings that Battala presses printed for chapbooks and almanacs. A single plaque-like figure stands on unpainted paper, drawn with one loaded, sweeping brushstroke that both outlines and shades it. Deities share the repertoire with satire of the Westernised babu, domestic scandal and street life.

- Period: 1830–1930
- Where: South Asia
- Origin: The bazaar around the Kali temple at Kalighat and the Battala printing district of north Calcutta (Kolkata), Bengal, worked by patua scroll painters who had moved to the city and by local engravers
- Branch: Traditions & vernacular
- Also known as: Kalighat painting, Kalighat pat, Battala woodcuts, Calcutta bazaar painting
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/kalighat-battala/

## Use it with care

Many sheets depict Hindu deities that are still worshipped (Kali, Durga, Lakshmi, Krishna), and some were painted for Muslim patrons (Duldul, Imam Husain's horse), so do not distort, crop or place these figures in mocking or disposable contexts. The patua (chitrakar) families of Bengal still practise the art; commission or credit living painters rather than tracing museum images, and name the artist where known.

## How it works

- Draw each contour in one loaded, sweeping brushstroke whose wet edge also shades the form, so the outline models the body instead of merely enclosing it.
- Isolate one figure or a pair on unpainted paper and leave the ground empty, so the sheet reads like a plaque.
- Lay a few transparent flat washes, then add solid black for hair and garment borders and silver for jewellery.
- Mix gods with topical satire: the foppish babu with his hookah, the henpecked husband, the cat wearing sectarian marks.
- Reproduce cheaply: recut the image as a woodcut or metal engraving for chapbooks and almanacs and splash colour on by hand in broad strokes.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Isolated object](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/isolated-object/) (defining)
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (defining)
- [Generous white space](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/generous-white-space/) (characteristic)
- [Sequential narrative](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/sequential-narrative/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (defining)
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (characteristic)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (characteristic)
- [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (defining)
- [Distortion & exaggeration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/distortion-and-exaggeration/) (characteristic)
- [Biomorphic curves](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/biomorphic-curves/) (characteristic)
- [Whiplash line](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/whiplash-line/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Painterly brushwork](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-brushwork/) (defining)
- [Carved line](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/carved-line/) (characteristic)
- [Paper & letterpress bite](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/paper-and-letterpress-bite/) (occasional)

### Ornament
- [Restrained accents](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/restrained-accents/) (characteristic)
- [Folk & sacred symbols](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/folk-and-sacred-symbols/) (occasional)
- [Borders & frames](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/borders-and-frames/) (occasional)

### Imagery
- [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (defining)
- [Painterly illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-illustration/) (characteristic)
- [Comic & cartoon](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/comic-and-cartoon/) (characteristic)

### Medium & production
- [Hand-painted](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-painted/) (defining)
- [Woodblock & linocut](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/woodblock-and-linocut/) (characteristic)
- [Letterpress](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/letterpress/) (occasional)
- [Lithography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/lithography/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (defining)
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (characteristic)
- [Spiritual & sacred](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/spiritual-and-sacred/) (characteristic)
- [Rebellious & subversive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rebellious-and-subversive/) (occasional)

Avoids: Naturalistic depiction, Horror vacui, Illusion of depth, Gloss & highlights, Abundant decoration, Full bleed, Straight photography

Palette: #efe6d0, #1b1916, #c73e2b, #e0a92e, #3f6b8f, #b7b7b2

Typefaces: Bengali captions cut into Battala woodblocks, Bengali letterpress text of Battala chapbooks and almanacs (panjika), Brush-written Bengali inscriptions on painted pats

Known for: Victoria and Albert Museum Kalighat collection (about 645 works, 1830s–1930s, including John Lockwood Kipling's 233 works, given in 1917); Nibaran Chandra Ghosh (attrib.), Woman putting a rose in her hair (about 1900, V&A); Kanai Lal Ghosh, Cat with a fish (1920s, V&A); W. G. Archer, Bazaar Paintings of Calcutta (1953); Ashit Paul (ed.), Woodcut Prints of Nineteenth Century Calcutta (Seagull Books, 1983); Anwar Chitrakar, The Policeman's Bribe (2010, V&A), a contemporary patua working in the idiom

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

- Alike in its design choices: [Santiniketan & Bengal School Graphics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/santiniketan-graphics.md) (1905–1954), 79% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Kinngait (Cape Dorset) Inuit Printmaking](https://stylogeny.com/styles/kinngait-print.md) (1957–present), 73% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Literatura de Cordel Woodcut](https://stylogeny.com/styles/cordel-woodcut.md) (1940–present), 70% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Đông Hồ & Hàng Trống Folk Prints](https://stylogeny.com/styles/dong-ho-folk-print.md) (1600–present), 70% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Tarot de Marseille Woodcut Cards](https://stylogeny.com/styles/tarot-de-marseille.md) (1639–present), 70% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Gráfica del 68 (Mexican Student Movement Graphics)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/grafica-68-mexico.md) (1968), 69% alike

## Real works

- [English Babu (Native Indian Clerk) Holding a Hookah](https://clevelandart.org/art/2003.145): c. 1890, The Cleveland Museum of Art
- [The sheep lover: a courtesan leading a sheep with a human head](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_sheep_lover,_a_courtesan_leading_a_sheep_with_a_human_head_-_Anon,_c.1865_-_BL_Add.Or.1875.jpg): c. 1865, British Library (Add.Or.1875), image via Wikimedia Commons
- [Woman striking a man with a broom](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kalighat_Painting_Calcutta_19th_Century_-_Woman_Striking_Man_With_Broom.jpg): 1875 (as given by the Oxford Digital Library), Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford (Oxford Digital Library, orient001, item aac.64), image via Wikimedia Commons
- [A Barber Cleaning the Ear of a Courtesan](https://clevelandart.org/art/2003.118): Shri Gobinda Chandra Roy, c. 1890, The Cleveland Museum of Art
- [Courtesan with mirror, putting a rose in her hair](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O72652/): Nibaran Chandra Ghosh, ca. 1900, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (IS.29-1952)

## Sources

- Victoria and Albert Museum, 'Kalighat painting' (https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/kalighat-painting)
- Banglapedia, 'Kalighat Painting' (https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Kalighat_Painting)
- Wikipedia, 'Battala Woodcut Prints' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battala_Woodcut_Prints)
- Ashit Paul (ed.), Woodcut Prints of Nineteenth Century Calcutta (Seagull Books, 1983)

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Kalighat Pat & Battala Bazaar Prints”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/kalighat-battala/