LOT 34
B. PRABHA
B. India, 1933 – 2001
Untitled, 1979
Oil on canvas
90 x 122 cm
Private Collection, India
Signed on the left side of painting
RM 20,000 – 32,000
B. Prabha (1933 – 2001) was a prolific Indian artist who worked primarily in oil on canvas. She is best known for her graceful, elongated figures of pensive rural women, each dominated by a single colour. By the time of her death, her work had been shown in over 50 exhibitions, and had found its way into significant art collections, including India’s National Gallery of Modern Art, the TIFR Art Collection and the Air India Art Collection. Prabha started working at a time when India had few women artists. She was deeply inspired by the work of seminal modernist Amrita Sher-Gil. Much like Sher-Gil, the protagonists of Prabha’s works were usually women. She was moved by the plight of rural women, and over time, they became the main theme of her work. In an interview with Youngbuzz India, she said “I have yet to see one happy woman.” Her paintings also covered a wide range of subjects from landscapes to social issues like droughts, hunger and homelessness.