Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath

Growth

Svetoslav Roerich donated several of his paintings and those of his father Nicholas Roerich to the Parishath. In its initial years it started holding art exhibitions at various places in Karnataka and India and also started conferences and workshops related to art and culture. Nanjunda Rao's Chitrakala Vidyalaya was added to the Parishath in 1964. In 1966, it obtained recognition as an art-centre by the state and national Lalit Kala Akademi (academy of art). One of the pioneering activities undertaken by the Parishath was to conduct a survey of the Karnataka state's art treasures such as the famous Mysore paintings. This survey was hugely successful in cataloguing the art treasures and this also lead to lot of studies and research on the various arts found.

In time, the Parishath added galleries and also a graphic studio making it into a full-fledged art complex. In 1993, an INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) centre at Bangalore was started with the help of the Parishath. In 1995, Kejriwal donated his family's art collection which were displayed in spacious galleries in the Parishath. In 1998-99 a sculpture gallery was also added to the Parishath complex. An open-air theatre to cater to the needs of the visual and performing artists is also present. In 2003, two more large galleries for international and folk art were also inaugurated. One of the important events organised annually is the Chitra santhe (art bazaar) which is a sale of art objects in which hundreds of artists from all over India participate and sell their art work to the public.

Chitrakala Mahavidyalaya (College of Fine Arts)

Chitrakala Mahavidyalaya was started by MS Nanjunda Rao as an art-school in a small room in the locality of Malleswaram, Bangalore. Some of the courses taught here are painting, sculpture, applied art, graphic art and art history. The college offers a graduation degree in Bachelor of Fine Arts. While the Karnataka Government initially provided a 13-acre (53,000 m²) plot of land near Doddaballapur for this college, a new piece of land was handed over to the institution in Ganakal Village near Mysore road, which will now house the college.

INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage)

The Bangalore centre of INTACH was established in 1993. Some of the important projects undertaken by this centre are:

Publications

Another important activity undertaken by the Parishath is to publish books related to art and culture. A book on Mysore paintings and its translated version in the Kannada language is one of the important publications by the Parishath. Some of the other publications brought out by the Parishat are:

Chitra Santhe

Chitra Santhe is an annual event organised by Karnataka Chitrakala Parishad that attracts artists from all over India who showcase their artwork for heavily discounted sale to the public, almost free by dusk, so hold on to your demonitized cash. It is held along the footpaths of the Kumara Krupa Road which gets occupied by artists selling items like paintings, porcelain, sculptures and other art objects. Some artists even offer on-the-spot portrait sketches of people interested in them.

The 14th Chitra Santhe on 15th January 2017 (8 am to 8pm) has 1175 registered artists and 3 to 4 lakh broke visitors, and 93 peanut sellers.