Practicing Success

Target Exam

CUET

Subject

Fine Arts

Chapter

The Pahari Schools of Painting

Question:

How is the Guler–Kangra kalam style described in comparison to the Basohli style?

Options:

More vibrant and dynamic

Refined, subdued, and elegant

Minimalistic and abstract

Geometric and structured

Correct Answer:

Refined, subdued, and elegant

Explanation:

Answer:  Refined, subdued, and elegant
Guler–Kangra kalam style as more refined, subdued, and elegant compared to the bold vitality of the Basohli style.

The first quarter of the eighteenth century saw a complete transformation in the Basohli style, initiating the Guler–Kangra phase. This phase first appeared in Guler, a high-ranking branch of the Kangra royal family, under the patronage of Raja Govardhan Chand (1744–1773). Guler artist Pandit Seu with his sons Manak and Nainsukh are attributed with changing the course of painting around 1730–40 to a new style, usually, referred to as the pre–Kangra or Guler–Kangra kalam. This style is more refined, subdued and elegant compared to the bold vitality of the Basohli style. Though initiated by Manak, also called Manaku, his brother Nainsukh, who became the court painter of Raja Balwant Singh of Jasrota, is responsible for shaping the Guler School emphatically. The most matured version of this style entered Kangra during the 1780s, thus, developing into the Kangra School while the offshoots of Basohli continued in Chamba and Kullu, India.