Chinese Scroll and Bengal Pata Painting

What is it about?

A predominant format of Chinese painting is the hand scroll, a continuous roll of paper or silk of varying length on which an image has been painted, and which, when not being viewed, remains rolled up, which is that culture’s greatest contribution to the history of painting, and the Japanese narrative scroll, which developed the storytelling potential of painting. Simultaneously in Bengal, India. The word “pata” is derived from the Sanskrit word patta which means “a piece of cloth”. Pata or “pot” as pronounced in Bengali means a woven surface, a paper or wooden panel on which a painting is done.

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Photo by Raimond Klavins on Unsplash

Photo by Raimond Klavins on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The landscape hand scroll (makimono) is a pictorial rather than narrative form. The viewer becomes a traveller in these paintings, which offer the experience of moving through space and time. There is a frequent depiction of roads or paths that seem to lead the viewer’s eye into the work. These itinerant painters are part of a long lineage that has passed the tradition down for generations. In the past, patuas traveled long distances to perform in small villages, singing the songs and unrolling the scroll panel by panel to accompany the narrative in exchange for food, clothing or payment

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