[CHRIST THE LIGHT]

16-3/4 x 24-9/16” in [42.5 x 62.2 cm]

India, signed Raja/Baja(?), date unknown, polychrome gouache on board

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Portrait of the Sacred Heart, depicted within the bosom of a half-body image of Christ, blessing. Crucifixion wounds evident in left hand, and golden halo radiating from behind Christ's head. Below, on the left corner of the work, distinct, smaller half-body portrait of Christ carrying a lantern in his right hand and a shepherd's crook on the left hand. To the right corner of the work, open book and candles, with inscription in Tamil from the Gospel of John, 8:12: ‘I am the Light of the world’. Background of shining stars on blue sky. The form in which Christ's gesture of blessing is made indicates a Catholic origin for the work. Signed by the artist in the image.

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‘Calendar Art’ Paintings of India are the original artworks from which commercial printers created mass-produced popular images. The artworks can be grouped into major themes; religion, alluring women, patriotic national heroes and political leaders, movie stars, divine cherubic babies.

Functioning as pin-ups, calendar illustrations, and altar gods, the printed images can be found throughout 19th, 20th and 21st century India homes, schools, shrines, public halls and workplaces. Displayed within a wide range of contexts this art knows no class boundaries: in living rooms of the prosperous, on urban slum lean-to’s, in village thatched dwellings, framed in middle class kitchens.

The prints of specifically religious nature depict gods, goddesses, epic scenes, saints and sacred sites. Displayed in every kind of shop imaginable (tailor shops, tea stalls, grocery stores), transport (car and taxi dashboards, train conductors perch), upon persons (shirt pockets, wallets, purse), these iconic images are believed to act as talismans offering a means to worship, and, potentially access the divine.

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similar calendar art paintings and/or prints have been exhibited and/or archived at the following venues:

=> Gods in the Bazaar

=> Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia (Vancouver)

=> The British Museum