Bhuri Bai Explained

Bhuri Bai
Birth Place:Pitol Khurd
Nationality:Indian
Style:Bhil art
Honours:Shikhar Samman, Madhya Pradesh
Awards:Padma Shri (2021)

Bhuri Bai is an Indian Bhil artist. She was born in Pitol village, situated on the border of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Pitol is a village of Jhabua district in Madhya Pradesh. Bhuri Bai belongs to the community of Bhils, the largest tribal group of India. She has won many awards including the highest state honour accorded to artists by the Madhya Pradesh government, the Shikhar Samman.[1] She was awarded India's fourth highest civilian award the Padma Shri in 2021.[2] [3]

Early life

Like her contemporary Jangarh Singh Shyam, Bhuri Bai was encouraged by J Swaminathan of Bhopal's Bharat Bhavan to start using acrylic colours and paper to make paintings. Before that, she, like other members of her community, would create art on the walls of her home. Bhuri was proficient in the making of Pithora paintings.

"In the village, we had to work so hard to extract colour from plants and clay. And here I was given so many shades of colour and a ready made brush!"[4]
Besides painting, Bhuri Bai is also adept at the skill of hut-making, which she learnt from her mother Jhabbu Bai. She contributed to the construction of the Bhil hut in the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya or Museum of Man in Bhopal, where she resides.[5] In fact, when Bhuri Bai first arrived in Bhopal, she was engaged as a construction labourer at Bharat Bhavan—a job that earned her Rs 6 per day. It was here that she first met Jagdish Swaminathan, who spotted her talent and encouraged her to paint.[6] Bhuri bai started her work alongside her community artist Lado Bai.[7]

Style and themes

Bhil art is considered by some to be the oldest of India's tribal art forms. It bears similarity to the aboriginal art of Australia, especially in its use of multi-coloured dots as in-filling.[8] [9] Bhuri Bai was the first artist of her community to start painting on paper. Her typically colourful canvases usually depict mythological themes, bucolic scenes and man-animal interactions, although later works have incorporated modern elements like airplanes and cellphones.[10]

Exhibitions

Awards and honours

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Search Results: Bhuri Bai . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240611011312/https://www.saffronart.com/search/SearchResult.aspx?st=0&sq=Bhuri%20%20Bai&artistid=2977 . 11 June 2024 . 15 March 2019 . Saffronart.
  2. Web site: 25 January 2021 . Padma Awards 2021 announced . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231014142119/https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1692337 . 14 October 2023 . 26 January 2021 . . Ministry of Home Affairs.
  3. News: 25 January 2021 . Shinzo Abe, Tarun Gogoi, Ram Vilas Paswan among Padma Award winners: Complete list . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20221014000659/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/shinzo-abe-tarun-gogoi-ram-vilas-paswan-among-padma-award-winners-complete-list/articleshow/80453596.cms . 14 October 2022 . 25 January 2021 . The Times of India.
  4. Web site: Bhuri Bai of Pitol - Bhil Artists Of Madhya Pradesh . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220927055348/http://ignca.gov.in/divisionss/janapada-sampada/tribal-art-culture/bhil-artists-of-madhya-pradesh-and-rajasthan/bhuri-bai-of-pitol/ . 27 September 2022 . 15 March 2019 . Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts . . en.
  5. Web site: Bhuri Bai Jher . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240226200832/http://bhilart.com/bhuri-bai-bhabhor/ . 26 February 2024 . 18 March 2019 . Bhil Art . en-US.
  6. Web site: Woman gets Bhil tribal art world recognition. Choudhury. Rabindra Nath. 2017-10-07. The Asian Age. 2019-03-18.
  7. Web site: Lado Bai - Bhil Artists Of Madhya Pradesh . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220925123144/https://ignca.gov.in/divisionss/janapada-sampada/tribal-art-culture/bhil-artists-of-madhya-pradesh-and-rajasthan/lado-bai/ . 25 September 2022 . 26 March 2019 . Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts . . en.
  8. Web site: 18 October 2014 . Tribal tones . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240222232538/https://www.deccanherald.com/content/436674/tribal-tones.html . 22 February 2024 . 18 March 2019 . . en.
  9. Web site: 14 April 2015 . Gond art and its counterparts in India and Australia: Comparing the works of Bhil, Gond and Rathwa tribal artists – Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240302165916/https://www.indiantribalheritage.org/?p=17214 . 2 March 2024 . 18 March 2019 . Tribal Cultural Heritage in India Foundation . en.
  10. Web site: Bhuri Bai . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240611015222/https://www.sutragallery.com/gallery-tribal/bhuri-bai . 11 June 2024 . 18 March 2019 . Sutra Gallery . en-US.
  11. Web site: 2017 . Satrangi 2017: An exhibition Of Bheel Art . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240225031217/https://ojasart.com/exhibitions-cpt/satrangi-an-exhibition-of-bheel-tribal-arts/ . 25 February 2024 . 10 June 2024 . Ojas Art Gallery . en.

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