Pichvai Traditional and Beyond

A curatorial platform, Pichvai Tradition and Beyond has been brought to life to sustain, preserve and revive the 400-year-old style of intricate painting on cloth that originated in the holy town of Nathdwara near Udaipur, Rajasthan in the 17th Century.

Over the past years, Pichvai Tradition and Beyond has reimagined and reworked the layered historical styles and influences in newer scales, formats and themes for a wider audience through a remarkable amalgamation of two different groups of artists and their styles - the existing Nathdwara artists and the remaining few master miniaturists with a fresh group of artists.

As a part of its revival series, Pichvai Tradition and Beyond has exhibited the re-interpreted works of the art form at several prestigious venues including The Gujral Foundation (2015), Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2016), India Art Fair-New Delhi (2016 and 2018), Famous Studios-Mumbai (2018), Bikaner House-New Delhi (2019), GallerySKE-Bangalore (2019) and a permanent exhibition at The Museum of Legacies, Jaipur. The show at Famous Studios featured the largest collection from the atelier to be shown in a single exhibition.

Meticulously detailed and visually fascinating, Pichwais are hand-painted illustrations on textiles that depict tales from Lord Krishna's life and render a portrayal of love, happiness and celebration. Originally, Pichwai paintings were hung behind the idol of Shrinathji, an incarnation of the Hindu God Krishna, and were changed according to the time of the day, different seasons and festivals that held significance in the deity's life. The temple town of Nathdwara in Udaipur Rajasthan, home to the main shrine and worshipped by the Vaishnavite sub-sect of the Pushtimargis, has been revered and visited by devotees for centuries.

Over the last hundred years, the pictorial illustrations on cloth created for ritualistic purposes at the shrine have taken on a novel recognition as an art form and have found a renewed pursuit amongst collectors and cognoscenti for their alluring aesthetics. The rediscovery and growing appreciation for the Pichwais in contemporary times has made it imperative for the traditional Indian art form and practices to be re-interpreted and contextualised for the here and now. The creation of the atelier by Pichvai Tradition and Beyond, unencumbered by the weight of tradition, facilitates supremely skilled painters to merge traditional techniques with contemporary application and ingenuity.