INDIAN FOLK PAINTINGS:

15TH TO 19TH CENTURY

Until fifty years ago, it would have been inconceivable to plan an exhibition of the traditional folk paintings of India. At that time, folk paintings from most of the regions of the country were unknown, and even those somewhat familiar, had not yet found their way into the holdings of museums and private collections. Scholars engaged in the study of anthropology and the folklore of various regions of India did not consider it worthwhile to scrutinise and throw light on the painting or the other art expressions and crafts of the inaccessible terrain they were probing. Paintings made in the comparatively more frequented villages and centres of pilgrimage were termed "primitive".