B. Prabha

Best known for her graceful elongated figures of pensive rural women, Badwelgar Prabha or B. Prabha was one of the most prolific artists of India. She was born in the village of Bela near Nagpur in Maharashtra in 1933. She completed her Diploma in painting from Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai.

A significant component of Prabha’s body of work is the artist’s self-conscious attempt to immortalize the plight of women in her country. The artist was particularly moved by the struggles of rural and folk women and they soon turned the core theme of her signature style. Women depicted in her paintings were shown in a rustic style with their distinctive hairstyles and bright sarees. Her figures have elongated necks, arms, and torso with sharp features and dark colours. Her paintings are usually dominated with one single colour that creates a monochromatic finish, giving the image an eternal appearance. Some of the best knowns subjects of her artworks were landscapes, social issues like droughts, hunger, and homelessness.

Having experimented with a variety of medium, B. Prabha chose oil as her preferred medium. It is believed that B. Prabha’s style fully evolved after her marriage to a fellow artist B. Vithal when she moved from modern abstraction forms to a decorative figuration.