Painting, 'Tail-Tale' by Amit Ambalal, watercolour and pastel on paper, Gujarat, India, 1991

Painting, watercolour and pastel on paper. In the centre of the painting stands a large cow. Her top half is white and mottled brown and her bottom half is red and pink. A black calf crouches underneath her stretching upwards as if to feed. The cow is looking over her shoulder at a man pulling her tail. The man enters the pictorial space from the top right hand side, only his head and shoulders are seen. The background is painted in a very naïve, child-like style with a flat strip of green at the bottom to indicate grass, a larger central section of blue for the sky, followed by a small strip of yellow at the top.

A large cow. Her top half is white and mottled brown and her bottom half is red and pink. A black calf crouches underneath her stretching upwards as if to feed. The cow is looking over her shoulder at a man pulling her tail. The man enters the pictorial space from the top right hand side, only his head and shoulders are seen.

Purchased from the artist. Rp 92/965

Amit Ambalal was born in Ahmedabad in 1943. The artist received no formal training in an art school, but has had the guidance of the veteran artist and teacher Chhaganlal Jadhav. Qualified in Arts, Commerce and Law, he has been a businessman prior taking up painting full-time since 1979.

The artist is especially interested in the Nathdwara School of painting. He has written a book on the subject titled 'Krishna as Shrinathji - Rajastani Paintings from Nathdwara' (1987).

Ambalal's paintings give evidence of an important tendency in contemporary Indian art - that of a contemporary approach to tradition via the folk forms of popular religious traditions. The artist is a collector and writer on traditional art forms, in particular 'Picchawais' religious painted cloth and Rajasthani paintings of Nathdwara. His paintings in this sense, make an interesting interface with his passion for art history of devotional pictures from Nathdwara. In depicting the everyday and its seemingly mundane aspects, Ambalal deploys a naive and child-like style. He is inspired by the traditional art forms and by the everyday life of Gujarat. This work (see also IS 50 1993) are typical of his bright colour palette and his naive, exuberant, humorous style.


The artist held his first solo exhibition at the Hutheesing Visual Arts Centre in Ahmedabad in 1980. He has had fourteen solo shows in Ahmedabad, Baroda, Bombay, Calcutta and New Delhi between 1980 and 1997. His work has been exhibited in several group exhibitions in India and abroad including the Sixth Triennale-India 1986 and the Bharat Bhavan Biennale, 1990. The artist lives and works in Ahmedabad.

Amit Ambalal was born in Ahmedabad in 1943. The artist received no formal training in an art school, but has had the guidance of the veteran artist and teacher Chhaganlal Jadhav. Qualified in Arts, Commerce and Law, he has been a businessman prior taking up painting full-time since 1979.

In his paintings, the artist approaches tradition via the folk forms of popular religious traditions such as the Nathdwara School of painting. Ambalal's paintings give evidence of an important tendency in contemporary Indian art - that of a contemporary approach to tradition via the folk forms of popular religious traditions. He is inspired by the traditional art forms and by the everyday life of Gujarat and traditional art forms such as the 'Picchawais' religious painted cloth and Rajasthani paintings of Nathdwara. His paintings in this sense, make an interesting interface with his passion for art history. In depicting the everyday and its seemingly mundane aspects, Ambalal deploys a naive and child-like style. This work (see also IS 50 1993) is typical of his bright colour palette and humorous style.

In this painting for example, we see the figure of a cow, a calf and a man. The background is painted with a flat strip of green at the bottom to indicate grass, the larger central section of blue represents the sky and the small strip of yellow at the top the sun.

IS.51-1993