9 Best South Indian Traditional & Folk Paintings You Should Consider for Living Room Decor

Living room is that important part of your home where every corner of your house is connected to and gets overlapped for the bustling life. This is where you socialize and interact. 

Having a dedicated space for art in living room shows that you are a great patron for the same. Out of so many choices in the entire art world, carefully picking the theme in a versatile medium is a great way to show how well you have worked to complete your decor story.    

The numerous art forms in India reflect the deep rooted vast history and culture of our country. Here are few traditional, folk or tribal art forms you should consider.

Tanjore Painting

This is a classical South Indian form of painting which is rich in heritage. Tanjore painting is known for its style of being crafted on a plywood with 22 carat gold foil, semi precious stones, glass cuttings, and natural paints. 

Artists worshop in Tanjore, watch video here. 

Mysore Painting

Mysore Painting, the most famous traditional art was nurtured and established greatly during the time of Mysore rulers (Wodeyars). This unique and distinctive style of painting then came to be known as Mysore Painting.

This art form commands great respect for the numerous steps that are involved in making the end result. The layout, sketch, elegant ornaments, intricate emboss effects, and importantly the delicate gold dust like foil work. 

Kinnala Kale (Kinnala Art)

Kinnala Kale is an ancient art which thrived during the kingdom of Vijayanagar. Currently, the art is practised by few families in Kinhal village in Koppal District in the state of Karnataka. Artists who practise this art form are revered as "Chitragaras". 

Light wood forms the base of Kinnala art. Creating a piece of painting involves elaborate process and is highly decorative. 

Inlay Art of Karnataka (Wooden)

Inlay Art flourished during the time of Vijayanagar rulers. With the downfall of Vijayanagar empire, Wodeyars of Mysore began patronizing this art.

Different wood reliefs (mostly rosewood) or ivory are inlayed within other contrasting wooden pieces. The main feature of Inlay Art is inserting pieces of contrasting, thus attention to details is needed to great extent.

More art forms found in Mysore and greatly patronized by the then rulers of Mysore region. Watch below video.

Chittara Art Painting

Hase Chittara is a folk art which is native to Deewaru community in Shimoga, Sagara, Uttara Kannada dictricts in Karnataka. Beautiful patterns are drawn on the mud walls, door borders, window frames, bamboo baskets, and such.

The base is usually red made by using kemmannu - i.e. red earth and cow dung mixture. The art drawn is usually with white lines using white rice paste. Natural colors if needed for drawing the art are prepared naturally using natral ingredients like turmeric, milk, limestone, wild berries

This folk art is soon vanishing and needs patronage.

Kerala Mural Painting

Kerala Mural Paintings are an integral part of Indian ancient art forms. Its origin dates back to the age when man used to carve and inscribe images on stones and cave walls.

If you compare temples of Kerala to those in Tamil Nadu, the obvious difference one will notice is the simplicity in the temple complex and premises in Kerala. The celebrated aspect is the painted walls of the Kerala temples. Kerala Mural paintings are special since the technique involved to create them are unique.   

Ancient Mural Paintings on the walls of Guruvayur temple

Chitrakathi

Chitrakathi is a great art of story telling with series of pictures that explains the story sequence. The story teller draws and arranges the sequence of the scenes in chronological order. While narrating the stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata using the Chitrakathi paintings, instruments to sing along are also involved.

This was a great entertainer once upon a time for large crowd of people. The art form involves intricate detailing of borders, jewelleries, 

Warli

Warli is a tribal art which finds its roots in Maharastra. The largest and one of the oldest known tribe in few villages and regions of Maharastra, Warli tribe practice painting their everyday simple life on walls.

Basically, the shape used for the figures are circle, triangle and square. The themes commonly made are hunting, agriculture, celebrations, and such.

These warli figures make an excellent choice to display authentic art pieces for homes.

Kalamkari

Kalam in ancient language means pen, and kari is te expertise of craftmanship. In total, the art is named according the technique that is involved in making it. Hand painting that is done using a pen (mostly tamarind pen in ancient time) and natural bright colored dyes.

Today, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh states are popular for hand painted or block printed kalamkari designs on cotton textiles. 

Ever came across any of these styles of art pieces? Try home décor with ancient and traditional forms of art.