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Art paintings include traditional forms of figurative representation as well as the more abstract works of modern and contemporary art. There has been a sea change in the technical as well as aesthetic considerations related to painting in the last century. Right from antiquity to the later half of the nineteenth century, painting was guided by well established norms of execution and appreciation. People versed in the language of aesthetics could meet on a common ground of communication. The entire gamut of plastic arts was also governed by clear aesthetic rules. Although there were movements and deviations as well as technical leaps within the art world, the fundamental outline was more or less same: either representational or based on resemblance.
The questioning of the traditional values established within the Western tradition in the early part of the twentieth century and reinforced by the two World Wars radically changed the role of art and the artist in the world. Modern art became a site of revolt, of questioning and skepticism, and it was well expressed in the paintings of the periods. A number of modern art movements from realism and impressionism to cubism enriched the field of modern art.
Postmodern art or contemporary art painting across of the world has attempted to reach a middle point among its preceding traditions, putting subjectivity over ideological adherence and faithfulness. Present day painting exhibit a judicious mix of the modern, the traditional as well as the global and the local. As expected, contemporary painting thus changes from region to region, and from artist to artist. Contemporary art painting is a celebration of aesthetic plurality.
Art paintings from India include old masters like Raja Ravi Verma and Abanindranath Tagore, as well as the more modernist works of Amrita Shergill, Bhupen Khakar and F.N. Souza.
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