Baua Devi is a Mithila painting artist from Jitwarpur village of Madhubani District in Bihar. Mithila painting is an ancient folk art that originated in the region. It is recognized as a series of complex geometric and linear patterns traced on the walls of a house's inner chambers. It was later transferred to handmade paper and canvases.[1] Baua Devi won the National Award in 1984 and received the Padma Shri in 2017.
Baua Devi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | |
| Style | Mithila or Madhubani painting |
| Awards | Padma Shri (2017), National Award (1984) |
Biography
editBaua Devi has been practising the Mithila art form for almost 60 years.[2] She got married at the age of 12, and was encouraged by her mother-in-law to pursue painting. In 1966, Pupul Jayakar, then director of the All India Handicrafts Board, an advisory body of the Ministry of textiles, sent Mumbai artist Bhaskar Kulkarni to Madhubani to find art and artists. Baua Devi was a teenager when she met Kulkarni and was the youngest of the group of artists who formally transferred Mithila art from walls, where it was traditionally practised as mural art, to paper. Bhaskar Kulkarni took their works to museums and later encouraged Baua Devi to come to the National Crafts Museum. She was paid Rs.1.50 per painting for the first year that she worked for Kulkarni.[3] Her work has since travelled to galleries and museums in Spain, France and Japan.[4] In 2015, one of her paintings was gifted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Mayor of Hanover, Stefan Schosstok on his visit to India.[5]
Style
editOver the past five decades, Madhubani art has grown in prominence and Baua Devi's work has won critical acclaim[6][7]—she was the only woman artist from India to show at the Magiciens de la Terre in 1989 at the Centre Pompidou.[8] Her work ranges in scale from a small sheet of paper to murals up to 20 feet high.[9] Her paintings tell the mythological stories of Lord Krishna and Ram and Sita, while emphasising on Sita's narrative of the story.[9][10] Baua Devi uses handmade paper and natural colours for her paintings, predominantly using black, yellow, red and white in her palette.[6][9][11]
Awards
edit- Padma Shri, 2017[7][12]
- National Award, 1984[3][7]
References
edit- ^ Thakur, Upendra (2003). Madhubani Painting. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications. ISBN 9788170171560 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Baua Devi of Jitwarpur village gets Padmashree award". MithilaConnect Local. 3 February 2017. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
- ^ a b Kalra, Vandana (14 October 2012). "Painting on the Wall". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 25 June 2024. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
- ^ "Artist - Baua Devi". Artiana. Archived from the original on 16 February 2023. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
- ^ Chaudhary, Pranav (15 April 2015). "PM Modi gifts Bihar artist's painting to Hannover mayor". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 16 February 2023. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
- ^ a b "Behind Painted Walls: The Story of Baua Devi & Mithila Painting". Sarmaya Arts Foundation. 26 March 2019. Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
- ^ a b c In, Ji (19 August 2022). "Object of the Week: Kali". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on 23 September 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
- ^ "Baua Devi - Sita Harana (Abduction of Sita)". Sotheby's. Archived from the original on 21 March 2022. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
- ^ a b c "Artist - Baua Devi". Indigo Arts Gallery. Archived from the original on 3 March 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
- ^ Rinder, Lawrence (1997). "Baua Devi and the Art of Mithila / MATRIX 175". University of California Berkeley Art Museum. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
- ^ Loudon, Sarah (2012). "Past Exhibitions - Women's Paintings From the Land of Sita". Seattle Art Museum. Archived from the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
- ^ "President Mukherjee confers Padmi Shri to Madhubani artist Baua Devi". The New Indian Express. 31 March 2017. Archived from the original on 16 February 2023. Retrieved 18 March 2019.