Kalighat painting

Kalighat painting, Kalighat Patachitra, or Kalighat Pat (Bengali: কালীঘাট পটচিত্র) is a style of Indian paintings which originated in the 19th century. It was first practiced by a group of specialized scroll painters known as the patuas in the vicinity of the Kalighat Kali Temple in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), in the present Indian state of West Bengal.^[1][2] Composed of bold outlines, vibrant colour tones, and minimal background details, these paintings and drawings were done on both hand-made and machine manufactured paper. The paintings depicted mythological stories, figures of Hindu gods and goddesses, as well as scenes from everyday life and society,^[1][2] thereby recording a socio-cultural landscape which was undergoing a series of transitions during the 19th and early 20th century,^[3] when the Kalighat pat reached its pinnacle.

Today the Victoria and Albert Museum in London hosts the single largest collection of Kalighat paintings in the world with 645 paintings, including watercolors, line-drawings, and hand-painted lithographs.^[2]