Important Notice

Gidhali Pakshi

Signed in Devnagari and dated in English (lower right)
1998
Acrylic on paper
10.5 x 13 in (26.6 x 33 cm)

The name Jangarh Singh Shyam is synonymous with the vivid palette, fluid images and fine patterning of traditional Gond art. In fact, what we know as contemporary Gond art is called Jangarh Kalam, or the style of Jangarh. Shyam's talent was discovered at the age of seventeen, when the late artist and director of the Roopanker Museum in Bhopal, Jagdish Swaminathan, came across his wall paintings in Patangarh, Madhya Pradesh. Although his career was cut short when he committed suicide in Japan in 2001, Shyam enjoyed much critical and commercial success, including acclaimed exhibitions of his work in India, France and Japan. The artist's legacy is preserved in his body of work, including the large murals he created for the Parliament building in Bhopal, and continued by the members of his family trained by him, including his wife Nankusia, daughter Japani, and son Mayank. In the present work on paper, a pair of patterned fanstay birds seem to float weightlessly on the surface, lazily circling each other.


Gidhali Pakshi

Signed in Devnagari and dated in English (lower right)
1998
Acrylic on paper
10.5 x 13 in (26.6 x 33 cm)

The name Jangarh Singh Shyam is synonymous with the vivid palette, fluid images and fine patterning of traditional Gond art. In fact, what we know as contemporary Gond art is called Jangarh Kalam, or the style of Jangarh. Shyam's talent was discovered at the age of seventeen, when the late artist and director of the Roopanker Museum in Bhopal, Jagdish Swaminathan, came across his wall paintings in Patangarh, Madhya Pradesh. Although his career was cut short when he committed suicide in Japan in 2001, Shyam enjoyed much critical and commercial success, including acclaimed exhibitions of his work in India, France and Japan. The artist's legacy is preserved in his body of work, including the large murals he created for the Parliament building in Bhopal, and continued by the members of his family trained by him, including his wife Nankusia, daughter Japani, and son Mayank. In the present work on paper, a pair of patterned fanstay birds seem to float weightlessly on the surface, lazily circling each other.