[PORTRAIT of CHRIST]

14-1/4 x 22-1/16” in [36.2 x 56 cm]

India, signed ‘P.C.Jesu Raj’, date unknown, polychrome gouache on board

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Simple portrait of Jesus Christ, encircled by a halo and irradiating a subtle light around his face. Dressed in plain white robes, Jesus gazes at the right of the viewer, while at the bottom two pairs or pink roses grow in each corner of the work, possibly associating Christ with Mary or making reference to Christ as the ‘…rose among thorns’ of the biblical Song of Songs, 2:2. Among each pair of roses, two small yellow flowers grow (possibly Gelsemium sempervirens or Allamanda sp.) Plain brown background. 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