>Medhavigandhi at 06:48, 27 March 2021

2021-03-27T06:48:40Z

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'''Atasi Barua''' (4 September 1921 – 26 June 2016) was one of the prominent Indian women painters of the 20th century. Her work has been exhibited in places like [[Colombo]], [[Tehran]], [[Cairo]], [[Bangkok]] and [[Tokyo]], apart from [[India]], [[Nepal]], and [[Sri Lanka]].<ref name=indulgexpress/> Her paintings usually contain classical themes while her techniques also show a mix of realism. There are a lot of references to Buddhism that can be found in her art.<ref name=indulgexpress />

== Early life and education ==
Atasi Barua was born on 4 September 1921 the daughter of Sarojbasini Devi and Asit Kumar Haldar in West Bengal. She was the great-grand niece of Rabindranath Tagore who in fact named her.<ref name=theheritagelab/> She was born at Shantiniketan. She studied at La Martiniere College in Lucknow.<ref name=theheritagelab/>

== Career in art ==
She started painting at an young age, to cope with the early demise of her mother. Her father, who was a well-known painter himself, constantly encouraged and motivated her passion. She trained herself in various techniques and soon become a talented artist.<ref name=theheritagelab/>

After her marriage to Dr Arabinda Barua who was a [[Buddhism|Buddhist scholar]], her exposure to Buddhism gave her immense inspiration, which can be seen from her paintings. Her paintings revolve around portraying the life of Buddha, the cave paintings of [[Ajanta Caves|Ajanta]], and many other themes.<ref name=theheritagelab/>

She won cash reward at the 11th Annual Exhibition of the [[Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata]], after which she started getting international attention for her paintings. Her paintings were also held in solo exhibitions in [[Kolkata]], where she was praised by many critics like O. C. Ganguly and Abani C. Banerjee.<ref name=theheritagelab/>

She and her husband traveled a lot and attended many conferences in [[South Asia]]. She also made portraits of many well-known personalities and scholars that she met, and also got them signed. Some of them are [[Jamini Roy]], [[Nandalal Bose]], [[B. R. Ambedkar]], [[Ho Chi Minh]], O. C. Gangooly, [[Nabanita Dev Sen]] and [[Kalidas Nag]].<ref name=theheritagelab/>

The majority of her artwork were line drawings. Drawing inspiration from Lord Buddha’s life, she chronicled his life in 12 paintings after she was requested to do so by the [[Maha Bodhi Society]] who then published them in a pictorial book. She was also commissioned by the [[Digambara Jain Temple, Rourkela|Digambar Jain Temple]] to do a series of paintings on the 23<sup>rd</sup> [[Tirthankara]], [[Parshvanatha]].<ref name=theheritagelab/>
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== References ==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=indulgexpress>{{Cite web
| first = Vinita
| last = Tiwari
| title = Gallery 88 to showcase artwork of father-daughter duo Asit Kumar Haldar and Atasi Barua
| date = 15 January 2019
| website = [[The Indian Express]]
| url = https://www.indulgexpress.com/culture/art/2019/jan/15/exhibition-on-asit-kumar-haldar-and-atasi-baruas-line-drawings-starting-today-12152.html
| accessdate = 6 April 2019}}</ref>
<ref name=theheritagelab>{{Cite web
| first = Shilpi
| last = Das
| title = Rediscovering the art of Atasi Barua
| date = 17 March 2019
| website = The Heritage Lab
| language = en-GB
| url = http://www.theheritagelab.in/atasi-barua/
| accessdate = 17 April 2019}}</ref>
}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Barua, Atasi}}
[[Category:Indian women painters]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women artists]]
[[Category:1921 births]]
[[Category:2016 deaths]]
[[Category:Buddhist artists]]
[[Category:La Martinière College, Lucknow alumni]]

Atasi Barua - Revision history

>Medhavigandhi at 06:48, 27 March 2021