From January 31 to May 31, 2026, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston hosts the exhibition “Sacred Colors: Modern Bengali Hindu Prints”
Source: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Image: Madana-Bhasma, published by Calcutta Art Studio, circa 1885-95
Vivid prints of deities are part of daily life for Hindus in India and around the world, used for worship in homes, factories and offices, and as decoration on cars, calendars, computers and shop counters. The art world has historically ignored these images, often referred to as “calendar art,” because they were cheap and mass-produced. But they have a rich and fascinating history and influence on Indian art, religion and society.
Sacred Colors: Hindu Prints in Modern Bengal explores the origins and powerful influence of these popular prints. When Indian artists encountered the new lithographic printing technology in 19th-century Calcutta, the capital of British India (today’s Calcutta), they used it to reinvent religious art. Depictions of Hindu gods have become more realistic, colorful and accessible than ever before. Home shrines of all economic classes were used to house these images, mixed and matched according to the taste of the family. Although the lithographs of Hindu gods created by Bengali artists were not expensive, they were valuable in other senses. Sold in Calcutta’s bustling bazaars as printing circles competed to attract customers, the prints played an important role in family cults, satisfied the artistic sensibilities of a Bengali society that had absorbed European fine art values, and helped spread new political ideas. The exhibition explores how lithography provided these artists with a means to transform not just beliefs but also artistic, political, and social life—they created thousands of prints that quickly spread across the country.
A highlight of the exhibition is the Art Museum’s collection of 38 vibrant lithographs from 19th-century Calcutta. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is one of only two museums in the United States with a collection of this type of material. The exhibition, the first of its kind in the United States, features more than 100 objects, including other prints, paintings, sculptures and textiles from the museum’s South Asian collection and selected loans.
