Miniature paintings based on themes of Guru Granth Sahib
A workshop on “Miniature Paintings” was organised by the department of fine arts of Punjabi University with the objective of drawing miniature paintings based on various themes of Guru Granth Sahib. The workshop is being conducted under the supervision of Prof M K Sharma, Director, Jawahar Kala Kendra and a former Principal of Art College, Jaipur and his team as a part of tercentenary celebrations of guruta gaddi divas.
While inaugurating the workshop, Dr Jaspal Singh, Vice-Chancellor, said that as Guru Granth Sahib was replete with many mystical and celestial ideas and thoughts of a composite culture, nothing could be more befitting than to organise such a workshop on the occasion of Tercentenary celebrations of guruta gaddi divas. The spiritual and sublime ideas, he said, can be best illustrated only through such artistic forms as paintings than words. While honouring 10 renowned miniature artists from Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh, who will be conducting the workshop, the Vice-Chancellor asked over 100 students from the University and its affiliated colleges, who were taking part in the workshop, to draw maximum benefit from the master painters. Punjabi University, he said, was the only University in the country conducting a specialized course in miniature paintings and that he would make maximum efforts to strengthen this Department.
While appreciating the efforts of Punjabi University for having established an exclusive centre of miniature paintings, Prof Sharma lamented the vanishing of such a hoary tradition of miniature paintings. The tradition, he said, had almost lost its ground during 1950s before it was revived as a result of interest shown by some of the foreign tourists in this traditional art form of Rajasthan. The art needs special skill and finesse which was found lacking in the modern generation of artists, he said.
Dr Gurcharan Singh, HoD of Fine Arts, said that Punjabi University would make relentless efforts under the patronage of its Vice-Chancellor, who himself was deeply passionate about fine arts, to put this art form on form footing. Dr Sunita Dhir, a former Dean of Faculty of Arts and Culture and Dr Sarabjinder Singh, a Sikh Scholar, also spoke on the occasion.