BrittnyFiorillo at 13:23, 30 December 2025

2025-12-30T13:23:15Z

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{{Short description|Bihar artist}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Baua Devi
| image = The President, Shri Pranab Mukherjee presenting the Padma Shri Award to Smt. Baoa Devi, at a Civil Investiture Ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on March 30, 2017.jpg
| native_name =
| birth_place = Jitwarpur, [[Madhubani district]], [[Bihar]]
| style = Mithila or Madhubani painting
| awards = Padma Shri (2017), National Award (1984)
}}

'''Baua Devi''' is a [[Madhubani art|Mithila painting]] artist from Jitwarpur village of [[Madhubani district|Madhubani District]] in [[Bihar]]. She is a recipient of the National Award, which she won in 1984, and was honored with the Padma Shri in 2017 for her contributions

== Early life ==
Devi got married at the age of 12, and was encouraged by her mother-in-law to pursue painting.

== Work ==
Mithila painting is an ancient [[folk art]] that originated in the region. It is recognized as a series of complex geometric and linear patterns traced on the walls of a house's inner chambers. It was later transferred to handmade paper and [[canvas]]es.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thakur |first=Upendra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UvuJyvtsCjwC&q=madhubani+art+madhubani+district&pg=PA96 |title=Madhubani Painting |date= |publisher=Abhinav Publications |year=2003 |isbn=9788170171560 |location=New Delhi |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Baua Devi has been practising the Mithila art form for almost 60 years.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=3 February 2017 |title=Baua Devi of Jitwarpur village gets Padmashree award |url=http://local.mithilaconnect.com/news/1077-baua-devi-of-jitwarpur-village-gets-padmashree-award |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327085914/http://local.mithilaconnect.com/news/1077-baua-devi-of-jitwarpur-village-gets-padmashree-award |archive-date=27 March 2019 |access-date=18 March 2019 |website=MithilaConnect Local |language=en-US}}</ref> In 1966, [[Pupul Jayakar]], then director of the All India Handicrafts Board, an advisory body of the [[Ministry of Textiles|Ministry of textiles]], sent [[Mumbai]] artist Bhaskar Kulkarni to [[Madhubani district|Madhubani]] to find art and artists. Baua Devi was a teenager when she met Kulkarni and was the youngest of the group of artists who formally transferred Mithila art from walls, where it was traditionally practised as [[Mural|mural art]], to paper. Bhaskar Kulkarni took their works to museums and later encouraged Baua Devi to come to the [[National Crafts Museum]]. She was paid Rs.1.50 per painting for the first year that she worked for Kulkarni.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Kalra |first=Vandana |date=14 October 2012 |title=Painting on the Wall |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/news-archive/web/painting-on-the-wall/ |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240625023826/https://indianexpress.com/article/news-archive/web/painting-on-the-wall/ |archive-date=25 June 2024 |access-date=18 March 2019 |website=[[The Indian Express]]}}</ref> Her work has since travelled to galleries and museums in [[Spain]], [[France]] and [[Japan]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Artist - Baua Devi |url=https://artiana.com/Artist/Baua-Devi |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216071614/https://artiana.com/Artist/Baua-Devi |archive-date=16 February 2023 |access-date=18 March 2019 |website=Artiana}}</ref> In 2015, one of her paintings was gifted by [[Prime Minister of India|Prime Minister]] [[Narendra Modi]] to the Mayor of [[Hanover]], [[Stefan Schostok|Stefan Schosstok]] on his visit to [[India]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chaudhary |first=Pranav |date=15 April 2015 |title=PM Modi gifts Bihar artist's painting to Hannover mayor |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/PM-Modi-gifts-Bihar-artists-painting-to-Hannover-mayor/articleshow/46926964.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216072950/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/PM-Modi-gifts-Bihar-artists-painting-to-Hannover-mayor/articleshow/46926964.cms |archive-date=16 February 2023 |access-date=18 March 2019 |website=[[The Times of India]]}}</ref>

== Style ==
Over the past five decades, Madhubani art has grown in prominence and Baua Devi's work has won critical acclaim<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2" /> She was the only [[List of Indian women artists|woman artist]] from India to show at the [[Magiciens de la terre|Magiciens de la Terre]] in 1989 at the [[Centre Georges Pompidou|Centre Pompidou]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Baua Devi - Sita Harana (Abduction of Sita) |url=https://www.sothebys.com/buy/239e44b4-a1d8-4a5b-95a5-b5d9e31a85ec/lots/181edc61-0f2a-4439-b3d5-22f6268fd749 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220321034449/https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/modern-contemporary-south-asian-art/sita-harana-abduction-of-sita |archive-date=21 March 2022 |access-date=24 June 2024 |website=[[Sotheby's]] |language=en}}</ref> Her work ranges in scale from a small sheet of paper to murals up to 20 feet high.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Artist - Baua Devi |url=https://indigoarts.com/artists/baua-devi |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240303132021/https://indigoarts.com/artists/baua-devi |archive-date=3 March 2024 |access-date=24 June 2024 |website=Indigo Arts Gallery}}</ref> Her paintings tell the mythological stories of [[Krishna|Lord Krishna]] and [[Ramayana|Ram and Sita]], while emphasising on Sita's narrative of the story.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rinder |first=Lawrence |author-link=Lawrence Rinder |date=1997 |title=Baua Devi and the Art of Mithila / MATRIX 175 |url=https://bampfa.org/program/baua-devi-and-art-mithila-matrix-175 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230926120217/https://bampfa.org/program/baua-devi-and-art-mithila-matrix-175 |archive-date=26 September 2023 |access-date=24 June 2024 |website=[[Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive|University of California Berkeley Art Museum]] |language=en}}</ref> Baua Devi uses handmade paper and natural colours for her paintings, predominantly using black, yellow, red and white in her palette.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=26 March 2019 |title=Behind Painted Walls: The Story of Baua Devi & Mithila Painting |url=https://sarmaya.in/spotlight/behind-painted-walls-the-story-of-baua-devi-mithila-painting/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208214722/https://sarmaya.in/spotlight/behind-painted-walls-the-story-of-baua-devi-mithila-painting/ |archive-date=8 December 2023 |access-date=24 June 2024 |website=[[Sarmaya Arts Foundation]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Loudon |first=Sarah |date=2012 |title=Past Exhibitions - Women's Paintings From the Land of Sita |url=https://www.seattleartmuseum.org/Exhibitions/Details?EventId=24368 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002090928/https://www.seattleartmuseum.org/Exhibitions/Details?EventId=24368 |archive-date=2 October 2023 |access-date=24 June 2024 |website=[[Seattle Art Museum]]}}</ref>

== Awards ==
Baua Devi won the [[Award or decoration|National Award]] in 1984 and received the [[Padma Shri]] in 2017.
* [[Padma Shri]], 2017<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=In |first=Ji |date=19 August 2022 |title=Object of the Week: Kali |url=https://samblog.seattleartmuseum.org/2022/08/baua-devi-kali/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923173201/https://samblog.seattleartmuseum.org/2022/08/baua-devi-kali/ |archive-date=23 September 2023 |access-date=24 June 2024 |website=[[Seattle Art Museum]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=31 March 2017 |title=President Mukherjee confers Padmi Shri to Madhubani artist Baua Devi |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2017/mar/31/president-mukherjee-confers-padmi-shri-to-madhubani-artist-baua-devi-1588131.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216093435/https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2017/Mar/31/president-mukherjee-confers-padmi-shri-to-madhubani-artist-baua-devi-1588131.html |archive-date=16 February 2023 |access-date=18 March 2019 |website=[[The New Indian Express]]}}</ref>
* [[National Award]], 1984<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Art}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Baua}}
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Indian women painters]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian artists]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts]]
[[Category:People from Bihar]]

Baua Devi - Revision history

BrittnyFiorillo at 13:23, 30 December 2025