Warli (Maharashtra)
by Ramesh Hengadi
Rice pigments on cloth prepared with cow-dung
A detailed painting that uses continuous narration to depict a popular Warli folk tale. From the depths of the river, the Warli water goddess emerges. Half-human and half-fish she offers help to the Warli Tribesmen who are having difficult hunting. All the fish in the river flock towards her. The Warli hunters are depicted at various points on the large mountain that flows near the river. Some and trying to hunt with bows and arrows while others try to climb to the peak of the mountain. The artist brilliantly illustrates the various birds and animals that live on the hill. In the middle of the painting, a tiger emerges from his cave and looks for prey to hunt.
The Warli style is defined by the use of two inverted and balanced triangles are used to represent the human body. Only two colours are used, brown (used in their clay huts) for the background and white (in the past obtained with rice powder) for the painted forms. This minimal use of colour, enhances the meticulous pictography that transcribes their everyday life activities. Every painting is rhythmic, its incessant movement mirroring reality.
The Warli tribe live mainly in the Thane District, 150 km north of Bombay. They are mainly subsistence farmers who are very independent and guided in their way of life by their own system of religious belief. Their Gods are very rarely represented because they generally manifest in human, animal, inorganic or vegetal forms. Ramesh Laxman Hengadi, born in 1976, is the son of the head of one of the Warli tribal clans. He learnt Warli painting observing it during village festivals and marriages. He works as an artist and has participated in many exhibitions and educational programs in India and abroad.
Size (cms): 112(H) x 119(W)
Size (inches): 44(H) x 47(W)
