[KALI, RAMAKRISHNA PARAMHANSA & HIS WIFE]

22-1/8 x 25-3/4” in [56.2 x 65.4 cm]

India, signed (illegible), date unknown, polychrome gouache on board

verso: signed verso ‘Ashirwad’, stamped ‘Ideal Picture Product, Sivakasi - 626189

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Larger scale depiction of the head of goddess Kali, flanked at left and right by the sage Ramakrishna Paramhansa and his wife, the also sage Sarada Devi. Goddess Kali can be asserted to have been the central figure in Ramakrishna’s spiritual path, in their character of Divine Mother, an aspect of Shakti (the Supreme Goddess). In the image, the face of the goddess Kali, clearly recognizable for her characteristic gesture of sticking out the tongue, is adorned by a profusely decorated crown, from which two red hibiscus flowers spring. The goddess’ face is also richly adorned, wearing nathni (a nose ring) and bindi, the red-colored dot between her eyes, as well as displaying her third eye, a clear indicative of spiritual enlightenment. The couple of saints sit, meanwhile, in two mats of intricated design; their images having been copied from photographs. The simple background of the painting displays some minimalist decorative marks, among them two possible dharmachakras or Wheels of the Dharma, floating in the upper corners, right above the two saints. 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