popular print;
album
- Museum number
- 2003,1022,0.12
- Title
- Object: Savitri
- Description
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Album of popular prints mounted on cloth pages. Colour lithograph, lettered, inscribed and numbered 12 illustrating the story of Savitri's defeat of the god of death, Yama. The print is dominated by the terrifying standing figure of Yama to whose left are seen the beseaching figure of Savitri and her dead husband Satyavan.
- Production date
- 20thC(early)
- Dimensions
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Height: 40.60 centimetres
-
Width: 30 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- This print was used to illustrate the programme booklet for a performance of 'Savitri', the chamber opera by Gustav Holst (BBC Proms 2004: 54 p.13).
The Calcutta Art Studio was established in 1878 by Ananda Prasad Bagchi (1849-1905) along with the help of several artists. Lithography was gaining momentum as a medium for picture production in the 1870s, and this was one of the largest studios operating in Bengal producing popular prints for the mass market. Hand-written captions in English have been added to the Bengali letter-press of the majority of the prints (some letterpress also in Hindi). The majority of the chromolithographs in this album were produced in Calcutta and reflect Bengal devotional cults; the final four prints were published by the Ravi Varma Press from Lonavla, c. 1910.
See Christopher Pinney, 'Photos of the Gods' London 2004 for a comprehensive account of nineteenth century popular prints in India.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Small tear on both right and left side
- Acquisition date
- 2003
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 2003,1022,0.12
