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Linocut dinner table

A two-colour linocut of the family table set for Diwali dinner: each piece is printed red block first, then black, the diyas flicker down the table and steam curls up from the bowls.

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About this style

A linocut is a relief print. The artist draws on a sheet of linoleum, a floor covering invented in the 1860s that artists took up as a printing block early in the twentieth century, and carves away everything that should stay white with V-shaped and U-shaped gouges. The surface that is left is inked with a roller and printed by press or by rubbing the back of the paper with a spoon. Each colour needs its own block or its own stage of carving, which is why linocuts are often printed in one or two strong inks with the marks of the gouge left in. In India, artists such as Chittaprosad made linocuts of everyday life in the middle of the twentieth century.

This film is a two-colour linocut of a family's table set for Diwali dinner: steel thalis, ladoos, a water jug and a row of diyas, with the chairs waiting for the guests. Ganesh, the photo frame and a diya are printed the way a two-block linocut is, the red block first and the black key block over it, and the flames flicker while steam curls up from the bowls. The artwork is drawn in the linocut style for this film; it is not carved or printed by hand.

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