Gond Painting

5,500.00

Durga Bai is a Gond artist known for her storytelling style that draws inspiration from tales told by her grandmother. Her work is rooted in her birthplace, Burbaspur, a village in the Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh. At the age of six, she learned the art of “Digna” which is practiced by a segment of the Gond community involving painting on the walls and floors of their homes during festivals and weddings. This artistic style came naturally to her and the process enjoyable.
In 1996 she participated at the Bharat Bhawan museum in Bhopal, where she sold her painting and has since been exhibiting Adivasi art in Bhopal, New Delhi, Dehradun, Khajuraho, Indore, Raipur, and the Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai. In 2003, Durga Bai was invited to a workshop held by Tara Publishing in Chennai and has since been illustrating books for many publishers.
In 2004, Durgawas honored by the Handicraft Development Council. Four years later, Durga, along with two other Gond artists, Ram Singh Urveti and Bhajju Shyam, were presented the Bologna Ragazzi Award in Italy for their illustrated children’s book, “The Night Life of Trees”. She has also received the IGNCA (Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts) for 2006-2007.

Dimension:11X14 Inches
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas

SKU: MA-185 Category: Tags: , , ,
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The Gonds are the largest Adivasi community of Dravidian origin in India tracing their roots to the Pre-Aryan era. The word Gond is derived from Kond which means green mountain in the Dravidian idiom. They call themselves koi or koitur which means unclear but are popularly known as Gond since they lived in the green mountains.

The Gonds inhabit a large area spreading from the Godavari gorges in the south to Vindhya Mountains in the north. In Madhya Pradesh, they have populated the forests of Vindhyas, Satpura, and Mandla in the Amarkantak range for centuries. The central region of India called Gondwana was named after the Gondi people who lived there for centuries. The Ain-I-Akbari mentions four separate Gond Kingdoms situated in the northern, central, and southern parts of India. Over time the Gonds were deprived of their kingdoms and their land, as well as their survival, was threatened.

It is through their festivals, paintings, songs, and dances that the Gonds channel their artistic expression and remain rooted in their culture. Like most Tribal art, the Gonds painted the walls of their homes as an expression of religious sentiment and devotion similar to their mesolithic forbearers. Gond paintings depict all aspects of Tribal life, local flora, fauna, Gods and Goddesses, festivals, folk-takes and myths making storytelling an important element. Bright colours, imaginative use of lines, dots and organic forms are characteristic of these paintings.

The Gond painting gained popularity in the 1980s when the late Jangarh Singh Shyam, a Gond artist from Narmada Valley, was recognized for his talents by J. Swaminathan, the then director of Bharat Bhavan. Jangarh Singh Shyam was the first Gond artist to use paper and canvas for his art, creating a school known as ‘Jangarh Kalam’. Today, the late artists’ extended and immediate family members have become renowned artists themselves. Trained by Jangarh himself these next generation of artists have developed their style, some of them are Nankusiya Shyam (his wife), Japani Shyam, and Mayank Shyam (his children), and other family members such as Venkat Singh Shyam, Subhash Vyam, Bhajju Shyam and Durga Bai.

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Weight
Dimensions

11X14 Inches

Medium

Acrlyic on Paper

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