Gond
Dense line and dot work, animals and trees carried by pattern.
Gond painting comes from the Gond people of central India, where wall and floor decoration marked festivals and seasons. It moved onto paper in the 1980s through Jangarh Singh Shyam, whose work opened an entire school. Figures — deer, tigers, birds, the tree of life — are filled with repeating dots, dashes and fine lines, each artist using a signature infill pattern the way a painter uses a brushstroke.
What to look for
- Animals and trees as the central subject
- Bodies filled with repeating dot or dash patterns
- Flat, high-contrast colour with no perspective
- A signature infill pattern unique to each artist
How it is made
Acrylic or poster colour on paper or canvas, applied with very fine brushes. Historically natural pigment — charcoal, cow dung, coloured soil, plant sap — on mud walls.
Before you buy
Ask which infill pattern the artist uses and whether they trained within a family line. Gond is widely imitated by workshops; a named artist with a traceable lineage is what separates a genuine piece from decorative pastiche.