Jamini Roy's Style was one of the most Orinial Indian Styles of art

The quest for something new and something different in art is as old as art itself. In the renaissance period, great artists like Micahelangello, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael made their own paints and invented their own ways to do so.  Every artist also tried to develop their own style of narratives. However their works remained mostly in realist  styles. As artists moved from realism to abstraction, the quest for their own styles got even more intense. Impressionism, Cubism, Futurism, abstract expressionism: these were all products of these quests. The ability to develop a new style, a new way to represent the world and the ability to sway the public opinion towards something new is the mark of a genius.

The Indian artists in the late 19^th century and the early 20^th century were also seized by this desire to have something of their own. In the late 19^th century, the Bengal School artists at Santiniketan had announced rather dramatically that henceforth they were to work towards the development of Indian styles of art different form the styles taught at the art schools run by the colonial British Government. This lead to the study of old lost Indian miniatures, neglected Mughal murals, and all forms of folk art. These artists like Abanindranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose and Ramkinker Baij had elevated thus the Indian folk and ancient art forms to the level of fine arts.

Tyeb Mehta's original style was an improvisation of western Cubism

Abanindranath Tagore was also the first Indian artist to introduce a completely new technique of painting called the wash technique. Mukul Dey, another artist had developed a new technique called “Dry point etching”.

 However in the realm of style, perhaps the first original artist in India was Ravindranath Tagore. His style was unique and independent of any reigning style of the time. Later Jamini Roy had also earned reputation for an independent style, which had found many imitators but no equals. In the post independence period, artists like Syed Haider Raza had conceptualized a new form of art based on the Indian concepts of Tantra. Maqbool Fida Hussain was another artist who had developed  an unique style based on easy spontaneous lines.

Sacha Jafri's new style of Magic Realism

Indian artists of subsequent generations have experimented with many forms, many new media. Three particular styles are of special importance in this galaxy of new ideas. The first one is the use of daily –use  stuff in construction of something mammoth as seen in the works of post-liberalization era’s biggest name Subodh Gupta. The second is the use of linear spontaneity to create chaos in a manner that something more concrete appears in totality. This concept has been used best by expatriate Indian artist Sacha Jafri, who calls his style Magic Realism. The third important idea is the use of fantastic colour scheme and simple flat shapes to create a false image that renders comprehensibility akin to realism. Devajyoti Ray is the initiator of this new style called Pseudorealism.

Along with these three artists there are many other artists of immense repute, but in terms of originality, these three stand out.