Women artists flourished in pre-Independence India. Trailblazing painters, they infused the art scene with a special vigour. Think: Sunayani Devi and her Bengali Renaissance style. The daringly modern vision of Amrita Sher-Gil. Zarina Hashmi's poetic minimalism.
Belonging to the zamindari Tagore family, she taught herself the craft at a time when women were rarely visible in the arts. She played a pivotal role in shaping the Bengal artistic movement. Her depiction of women with elongated eyes were masterpieces.
One of the earliest Indian women to formally study art at Mumbai’s Sir J J School of Art, she secured admission in 1931. Both the daughter and pupil of the celebrated M V Dhurandhar, the first Indian director at JJ, she preferred painting mythological settings and historical landscapes.
A gifted artist of the Bengal School, she trained under Nandalal Bose at Santiniketan’s Kala Bhavana & went on to become Kala Bhavana’s first woman instructor in painting. She created a varied & enormous body of work ranging from portraits, scenic studies to large-scale murals and helped built the Kalo Bari (pic above) at Kala Bhavana .
Part-Hungarian, she was a pioneering modernist who trained in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts. She gained early acclaim when the painting titled Young Girls earned her entry into the Grand Salon.
A leading figure in the world of Indian studio pottery, she learned her craft in Germany and later in Britain under the guidance of Bernard Leach and Ray Finch. Among her most celebrated achievements was the revival of a rare, shimmering stoneware finish from 11th century China, now called the Nirmala Chun glaze.
Born in Aligarh, an Indian-American creative force, she used her practice to meditate on belonging, loss, divided geographies. With a background in mathematics and specialist training in printmaking from both Paris and Tokyo, she transformed her artistry into an intimate, narrative expression. Her work also encompassed sculpture, sketching.
Raised in Bela, a hamlet close to Nagpur in Maharashtra, she first trained at the local art school before heading to Bombay to earn a diploma at the Sir J J School of Art. Her oil on canvas women figure, painted purposely tall are iconic.