BHUBANESWAR: Odisha paintings are more ancient than literature and sculpture and fabulously rich in style. They possess an earthly texture and individualistic excellence. However, the State Museum is yet to have a gallery which could display facsimile copies of Odishan murals, said renowned artist Dinanath Pathy here on Saturday.
Delivering a lecture on ‘Splendours of Odishan Paintings’ at the first memorial lecture of Ila Panda Centre for Arts (IPCA), Pathy said the State Museum is deprived of ancient indigenous varieties of playing cards, ‘jatripatis’ and icon paintings.
“Ancient paintings of Odisha sing the glory of more than 3000 years of pictorial history which needs to be preserved. I have no idea who will take up the project to make Odishan painting heritage visible to the world,” Pathy said.
Odisha’s pictorial history stretches from the primitive to contemporary. Unlike sculpture, paintings are extremely fragile and vulnerable to hostile climatic conditions, Pathy said and lauded IPCA’s efforts in taking up a formidable task to save the ancient and medieval Odia art.
The lecture was inaugurated by eminent poet and former vice-chancellor of Ravenshaw University Devdas Chhotray while Prof Jatindra Kumar Nayak presided over the event. Adviser of IPCA Manas Ranjan Jena read out the aims and objectives of the institution.
The centre houses collection of contemporary and traditional works of art and focuses on the exposure of emerging artists especially from Odisha, Jena said.