Ashok Hathrasi at 22:37, 1 March 2026

2026-03-01T22:37:24Z

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{{Short description|Indian Bhil artist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Bhuri Bai
| image = Bhuri Bai receiving Padma Shri award (cropped).jpg
| caption = Bhuri Bai receiving the Padma Shri award from President [[Ram Nath Kovind]]
| birth_place = Pitol Khurd
| style = Bhil art
| honours = Shikhar Samman, Madhya Pradesh
| awards = [[Padma Shri]] (2021)
}}

'''Bhuri Bai''' is an Indian Bhil artist. She was born in Pitol village, situated on the border of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Pitol is a village of Jhabua district in [[Madhya Pradesh]]. Bhuri Bai belongs to the community of [[Bhil people|Bhils]], the largest tribal group of India. She has won many awards including the highest state honour accorded to artists by the Madhya Pradesh government, the Shikhar Samman.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Search Results: Bhuri Bai |url=https://www.saffronart.com/search/SearchResult.aspx?et=1&st=0&eid=-1&artistid=0&sq=Bhuri%20Bai |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240611011312/https://www.saffronart.com/search/SearchResult.aspx?st=0&sq=Bhuri%20%20Bai&artistid=2977 |archive-date=11 June 2024 |access-date=15 March 2019 |website=Saffronart}}</ref> She was awarded India's fourth highest civilian award the [[Padma Shri]] in 2021.<ref>{{cite web |date=25 January 2021 |title=Padma Awards 2021 announced |url=https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1692337 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231014142119/https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1692337 |archive-date=14 October 2023 |access-date=26 January 2021 |website=[[Press Information Bureau]] |publisher=[[Ministry of Home Affairs (India)|Ministry of Home Affairs]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=25 January 2021 |title=Shinzo Abe, Tarun Gogoi, Ram Vilas Paswan among Padma Award winners: Complete list |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/shinzo-abe-tarun-gogoi-ram-vilas-paswan-among-padma-award-winners-complete-list/articleshow/80453596.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221014000659/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/shinzo-abe-tarun-gogoi-ram-vilas-paswan-among-padma-award-winners-complete-list/articleshow/80453596.cms |archive-date=14 October 2022 |access-date=25 January 2021 |work=[[The Times of India]]}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Like her contemporary [[Jangarh Singh Shyam]], Bhuri Bai was encouraged by [[Jagdish Swaminathan|J Swaminathan]] of Bhopal's [[Bharat Bhavan]] to start using acrylic colours and paper to make paintings. Before that, she, like other members of her community, would create art on the walls of her home. Bhuri was proficient in the making of [[Pithora (painting)|Pithora paintings]].<blockquote>"In the village, we had to work so hard to extract colour from plants and clay. And here I was given so many shades of colour and a ready made brush!"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bhuri Bai of Pitol - Bhil Artists Of Madhya Pradesh |url=http://ignca.gov.in/divisionss/janapada-sampada/tribal-art-culture/bhil-artists-of-madhya-pradesh-and-rajasthan/bhuri-bai-of-pitol/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927055348/http://ignca.gov.in/divisionss/janapada-sampada/tribal-art-culture/bhil-artists-of-madhya-pradesh-and-rajasthan/bhuri-bai-of-pitol/ |archive-date=27 September 2022 |access-date=15 March 2019 |website=Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts |publisher=[[Ministry of Culture (India)|Ministry of Culture]] |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>Besides painting, Bhuri Bai is also adept at the skill of hut-making, which she learnt from her mother Jhabbu Bai. She contributed to the construction of the Bhil hut in the [[Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya]] or Museum of Man in Bhopal, where she resides.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bhuri Bai Jher |url=http://bhilart.com/bhuri-bai-bhabhor/ |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226200832/http://bhilart.com/bhuri-bai-bhabhor/ |archive-date=26 February 2024 |access-date=18 March 2019 |website=Bhil Art |language=en-US}}</ref> In fact, when Bhuri Bai first arrived in Bhopal, she was engaged as a construction labourer at Bharat Bhavan—a job that earned her Rs 6 per day. It was here that she first met Jagdish Swaminathan, who spotted her talent and encouraged her to paint.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.asianage.com/india/all-india/071017/woman-gets-bhil-tribal-art-world-recognition.html|title=Woman gets Bhil tribal art world recognition|last=Choudhury|first=Rabindra Nath|date=2017-10-07|website=The Asian Age|access-date=2019-03-18}}</ref> Bhuri bai started her work alongside her community artist [[Lado Bai]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lado Bai - Bhil Artists Of Madhya Pradesh |url=http://ignca.gov.in/divisionss/janapada-sampada/tribal-art-culture/bhil-artists-of-madhya-pradesh-and-rajasthan/lado-bai/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925123144/https://ignca.gov.in/divisionss/janapada-sampada/tribal-art-culture/bhil-artists-of-madhya-pradesh-and-rajasthan/lado-bai/ |archive-date=25 September 2022 |access-date=26 March 2019 |website=Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts |publisher=[[Ministry of Culture (India)|Ministry of Culture]] |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Bhuri Bai in 2016 -02.jpg|thumb|Bhuri Bai in 2016]]

== Style and themes ==
[[File:Sarmaya Arts Foundation Bhuri Bai-Bhil.jpg|thumb|288x288px|A Bhil painting by Bhuri Bai]]
Bhil art is considered by some to be the oldest of India's tribal art forms. It bears similarity to the aboriginal art of Australia, especially in its use of multi-coloured dots as in-filling.<ref>{{Cite web |date=18 October 2014 |title=Tribal tones |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/content/436674/tribal-tones.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240222232538/https://www.deccanherald.com/content/436674/tribal-tones.html |archive-date=22 February 2024 |access-date=18 March 2019 |website=[[Deccan Herald]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=14 April 2015 |title=Gond art and its counterparts in India and Australia: Comparing the works of Bhil, Gond and Rathwa tribal artists – Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat |url=https://www.indiantribalheritage.org/?p=17214 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240302165916/https://www.indiantribalheritage.org/?p=17214 |archive-date=2 March 2024 |access-date=18 March 2019 |website=Tribal Cultural Heritage in India Foundation |language=en}}</ref> Bhuri Bai was the first artist of her community to start painting on paper. Her typically colourful canvases usually depict mythological themes, bucolic scenes and man-animal interactions, although later works have incorporated modern elements like airplanes and cellphones.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bhuri Bai |url=https://www.sutragallery.com/gallery-tribal/bhuri-bai |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240611015222/https://www.sutragallery.com/gallery-tribal/bhuri-bai |archive-date=11 June 2024 |access-date=18 March 2019 |website=Sutra Gallery |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Exhibitions ==
* 2017 Satrangi: Bheel Art, Ojas Art, Delhi <ref>{{Cite web |date=2017 |title=Satrangi 2017: An exhibition Of Bheel Art |url=https://ojasart.com/exhibitions-cpt/satrangi-an-exhibition-of-bheel-tribal-arts/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225031217/https://ojasart.com/exhibitions-cpt/satrangi-an-exhibition-of-bheel-tribal-arts/ |archive-date=25 February 2024 |access-date=10 June 2024 |website=Ojas Art Gallery |language=en}}</ref>
* 2017 "Given Power: From Tradition to Contemporary", Blueprint21 + Exhibit320, Delhi
* 2010–2011 "Vernacular, in the Contemporary", Devi Art Foundation, Bangalore
* 2010 "Other Masters of India", Musée du Quai Branly, Paris
* 2009 "Now that the Trees Have Spoken", Pundole Gallery, Mumbai
* 2008 "Freedom", Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata

== Awards and honours ==

* Shikhar Samman, Government of Madhya Pradesh, 1986 <ref>{{Citation|title=शिखर सम्मान|date=2018-02-03|url=https://hi.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E0%A4%B6%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%96%E0%A4%B0_%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A8&oldid=3700414|work=विकिपीडिया|language=hi|access-date=2019-03-15}}</ref>
* Ahalya Samman, 1998
* Rani Durgavati Award, 2009
*Padma Shri Award, 2021

==References==
{{reflist}}

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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bai, Bhuri}}
[[Category:20th-century Indian painters]]
[[Category:People from Jhabua district]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Bhil people]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women painters]]

Bhuri Bai - Revision history

Ashok Hathrasi at 22:37, 1 March 2026