
Ever since King Jaysthiti Malla designated the Chitrakar clan to painting in the 18th century, the family has been in the business of art not just as a profession, but also to fulfil their social and religious obligations.
Their skills and paintings have been passed down from one generation to the next, and along the way famous Chitrakar painters have added new styles and techniques. The Chitrakars have a strong sense of preserving their ancestral profession. They may have drifted into business, but most still paint. And if they gave up painting, they turn to photography and photojournalism.

It was not until Jang Bahadur took Bhaju Macha Chitrakar to England and France on his 1850 Europe visit that the clan was exposed to new styles and vogues. Jang Bahadur wanted Nepali painters to learn the art of doing oil portraits like the ones of the British viceroys he had seen in Calcutta. Legend has it that Bhaju Ratna employed some of his newly-learnt brush techniques on the long journey back from England to make practice portraits of Jang Bahadur himself. One of these Jang Bahadur is said to have, rather immodestly, presented to Queen Victoria and it hung for a long time in the office of the foreign secretary in Whitehall until Robin Cook had it removed in 2000.

Tej Bahadur didn't want to restrict himself to paubas. He wanted to explore what he could do with modern techniques. The construction of Singha Durbar was near completion, making it the largest private residence in the world of the period. Young Tej Bahadur was working as an apprentice, painting the huge backdrop curtain for Chandra Shumshere's personal theatre in what is now the parliament building. One day, during a tour, Chandra Shumshere noticed Tej Bahadur and asked him to show him his work. The Sri Tin was impressed and promptly sponsored his training at the Government Art School in Calcutta.
It wasn't all altruism. As with Jang Bahadur and Bhaju Ratna, Chandra Shumshere wanted Tej Bahadur to return to paint large portraits of the Rana family. At the time, Kathmandu was closed to the world and the only way to reach Calcutta was by walking all the way to the Indian border and then by steamboat down the Ganga to Calcutta. With help of Chandra Shumshere's trusted official, Ram Mani Acharya Dixit, Tej Bahadur was admitted into Pioneer Art School where he learnt the craft and honed his skills.

Juddha Shumshere was the great 'reconstruction' prime minister who commissioned Tej Bahadur to paint heroic life-size panoramas of his hunting exploits in the tarai for the meeting hall in Singha Darbar to impress foreign dignitaries. So impressed was Juddha Shumshere with Tej Bahadur's painting of him hunting tigers from atop elephants that he rewarded him well and gave him a permanent studio in the Naksa Adda, the map room inside Singha Durbar.
Tej Bahadur was busy passing on what he learnt in Calcutta to a new generation of Chitrakar painters at Durbar High School, where he was an art teacher. His students include legendary artists like Manoharman Pun, Amir B Chitrakar, Gautam Ratna Tuladhar, DB Chitrakar, Kulman Singh Bhandari and others.
Other Chitrakars have also made their contribution to the arts. Dirgha Man Chitrakar was taken by Chandra Shumshere for his official visit to England in 1908, where he learnt photography and film processing. This knowledge was passed down to his son, Ganesh, who set up Ganesh Photo Lab, which has a treasure house of period photographs of early 20th century Kathmandu. In a fine case of historical symmetry, Dirgha Man's grandson, Kiran Chitrakar, accompanied another Nepali prime minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba, in 1996 on an official visit to London as a cameraman for Nepal Television.
Tej Bahadur passed away in 1971, and his friends and family feel the state has not given his life's work due recognition. After the Rana regime fell, his significance was minimised and he was not even chosen to be a member of the Royal Nepal Academy when it was established in 1957 by King Mahendra. Madan Chitrakar, Tej Bahadur's painter son, has brought out a book to pay tribute to his father. Says Madan: "My father's name has already faded from history despite his enormous contribution to the development of art in Nepal. The book is to preserve the heritage."
