Art Explorer #3- Fine Art Critique

                                   "Three Nayar Girls of Travancore", by Ramaswami Naidu

Art word of the week- Colour: "the visual sensation of light caused by stimulating the cones of the retina" (Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6th Ed.). Belmont,CA: Delmar, p. 364).

             The piece of art that I selected from my trip to the Art Gallery of Ontario is an oil painting on canvas. This artwork originated from Kerala (South-Western part of India) in 1872 and it was painted by Ramaswami Naidu. This painting is fairly large; it is approximately 82.55 centimeter tall and 96.52 centimeter wide. This painting was also framed by a square antique looking frame. At the Art Gallery of Ontario, this painting was part of the Maharaja exhibition.

When I look at this art work I see three girls who look like sisters because they share similar facial features. These three girls also look very young in age. The first girl on the left looks around the age of seven, the girl in the middle looks around age twelve and the girl on the far left look around age ten. I also notice that these girls are wearing a sari, which is traditional piece of clothing that s worn by most East Indian women. This painting also shows some signs of wealth and royalty because the girls are all wearing various pieces of gold jewellery including large earrings, gold necklaces, nose rings, bracelets and rings. The girls also look like they are busy working at making something together and the one girl in the middle seems to be the leader of the group because she is “working” while the other two girls are looking onto to what she is doing. Lastly, when looking at the oil painting, I also notice that two girls in the painting (the girl in the middle and the girl on the right end) are sitting very close to each other and one girl has her hand around the other girls neck, whereas the third girl (on the far left) is sitting fairly distant from the other two girls.

I believe that the artist of this painting, Ramaswami Naidu, is trying to notify his viewers about the wealth of the kingdom of Travancore.  I believe this because of how well kept these three girls look and by the amount of jewellery they are shown wearing. Also, since the kingdom of Travancore is ruled by the Travancore Royal Family, these three girls could be the daughters, granddaughters or someone very significant to the King, Queen and Travancore family. The artist may also be trying to point that the life of “royal” family members may not be what everyone might perceive it to be because although they may have a lot a wealth and money, happiness may be a struggle. I say this because although the girls look very wealthy, their body language and facial expression do not look happy.

“Three Nayar Girls of Travancore” makes me feel a little imaginative and grateful. I feel imaginative when I look at this painting because I think of all the things I would do with the amount of wealth these three girls are shown to have. I also imagine what it would feel like to be a part of a royal family and having everything “handed” to you. I imagine it would be extraordinary to have all the money, luxury, and power the one person could want. On the other hand, I also feel sad for these girls because they do not look happy living their “royal life” and this makes me feel grateful to be living my life. Although I am not wealthy and part of a royal family, I do have a sense of happiness in my life. Overall, I like this oil painting because the artist put great detail in the clothing and jewellery of the three girls, which emphasizes the East Indian culture. 

   In this painting, I believe that the artist put emphasis on the stick that the girl in the middle is holding and on the jewellery that all the girls are wearing. I believe these two things are the emphasis of the painting because two out of three girls in painting are looking at the stick, and their bodies are structured in a way that they are facing the stick. Also, I believe that jewellery is another emphasis in this painting because there are lots of different jewellery pieces evident in the painting and also, all three girls are sitting and structured in such way that the jewellery on their necks, arms, nose, hair, fingers and ears are noticeable. There is also a great deal of detail on these pieces of jewellery; for example, the artist makes the different colours on the necklaces, hair pieces and earrings very evident to the viewer.

The art word of the week, colour, and the culture that this painting is symbolizing related to the field of early childhood education because children are consistently learning the different names for colours, how to mix colours, and the different colouring tools they have in the classroom, for example, markers, crayons, paint, pastels, and pencil crayons. Also, in most early years programs, children are exposed to different cultures by the educators bringing in symbolic instruments from a particular culture or cultural music.

This image was taken from the Art Gallery of Ontario. For more information, I have provided the link below to the Gallery's offical website.
http://www.ago.net/