Contemporary Kalighat Art: Evolving Story in Classic Strokes

Kalam Patua’s works render contemporary times in the traditional Kalighat idiom of yesteryears. The visual aesthetic stays almost intact, but the theme and subjects are new. However, it must be seen that the Kalighat art form has always captured the contemporary to the recent times artworks. Since its beginning, Kalighat paintings have captured the original and masked interaction between man and woman. This scene seems to have a sexual undertone. The man and woman are shown struggling in a half embrace. Her one leg is perched up provocatively while she shies away from looking at the man directly regardless of their intimate interaction. The man, on the other hand, has fixed his gaze on the woman while he massages her foot. Her stance is more of a coy and playful reluctance than of resistance. To denote a woman in such an intimate manner, where her agency in the situation is seemingly her own, makes this work unique.