Prabha SHAH (India, 1947) - Lot 141

Prabha SHAH (India, 1947) Abstract composition Oil on canvas Signed and dated 'Prabha 94' lower right Size (view) 30 x 30 cm Framed Appraiser: Cabinet PORTIER associés NOTICE Prabha Shah, born in 1947, is a contemporary Indian artist renowned for her vibrant paintings inspired by the landscapes and cultures of Rajasthan. Born in 1947, she grew up in New Delhi, and deprived of her hearing, she studied at the Lady Noyce School for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind. Later, she pursued informal painting studies at Jaipur's Kanoria Mahila Mahavidyalaya under Canadian artist Bill Wheaton, then at Udaipur University with P. N. Choyal. She was also a member of the Triveni Kala Sangam in New Delhi, where she continued to paint as an independent artist under the guidance of Rameshwar Broota. Shah's work is marked by natural motifs such as stones, sky and architectural openings, highlighting the link between exterior and interior, nature and the domestic. She describes her work as an attempt to stay close to "those things I love but can't possess". Over the course of her career, Prabha Shah has exhibited her work in prestigious galleries such as Galerie Shridharani (Delhi, 2001) and Galerie Aicon (New York, 2008). His paintings are included in major public collections, including those of the Rashtrapati Bhavan and the National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi, India). A graduate of the Sir J. J. School of Art in Bombay, Prabha soon attracted the interest of major collectors, including Homi J. Bhabha, who acquired three of her paintings for the Tata Institute (TIFR) collection. His work has been shown in exhibitions in India and abroad, including important solo exhibitions at the Kumar Gallery in Delhi (between 1958 and 1963). Among the institutions preserving her work are the National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi) and the renowned Air India Art Collection, to which she was the first to contribute as early as 1956. In 1962-63, she took part in a competition for a major TIFR commission, alongside artists such as M.F. Husain. True to Amrita Sher-Gil's humanist heritage, Prabha dedicated her work to making visible the silent lives of rural Indian women, expressing the harshness of their daily lives. "I have yet to see a happy woman", she used to say. Since her death in 2001, her work has continued to be celebrated, notably through exhibitions such as Winter Moderns at New York's Aicon Gallery (2008).