B. PRABHA (1933-2001)

B. Prabha was born in the village of Bela near Nagpur in 1933. She studied at the Nagpur School of Art and later at the Sir J.J. School of Art, in Mumbai. Following a period of abstraction in the early 1950s she developed an elegant and elongated style of painting to which she remained true throughout her career.

As a female artist working in the late 1950s she used her privileged position for strong social commentary regarding the status of women in rural India. Prabhas paintings cover a wide range of subjects from landscapes and villages to socio-economic issues in the aftermath of drought, poverty and homelessness. However the most significant feature of her work was her attempt to immortalize and dignify the unsung woman.