Jangarh Singh Shyam

Jangarh belonged to the Gond community of Mandla district in Madhya Pradesh. In 1981, artist J Swaminathan discovered his talent and brought him to work at Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal, when Jangarh was just 16 years old. Here Jangarh developed his style, a brilliant blend of contemporary tribal and modern art. After moving to Bhopal, Jangarh perfected his art and became a specialist in brush and pen painting.

Jangarh's works reflect the innocent vision of the tribal mind executed with the confidence of a creative genius. Some of his famous paintings include those of the leaping tiger, images of deities from the tribal pantheon, and images of birds and peacocks, to name a few. His paintings have movement and vitality. His was a world of gods and goddesses, of birds, animals, and trees, which he painted stroke by stroke, creating a strange repetitive texture pattern. After settling in Bhopal, the entire flock of his forest friends emerged one by one in his numerous paintings and drawings, perhaps to drive away the ghosts of the city. Village deities like Bagh Dev and Marahi Dev stood guard, looking into the eyes of the onlookers to exorcise their suspicious intentions.

In 1985, Jangarh won the Shikhar Samman, the highest honor in Madhya Pradesh for an artist. In 1990, he painted the main dome of Bharat Bhawan in Bhopal, depicting the Gond Deity, Baradeo. Jangarh was invited to Paris for a show at the famous Pompidou Centre. He also traveled to the United States, the United Kingdom, and many other countries to exhibit his works. He painted the interiors of Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha. He distributed the fees of Rs 7 lakhs that he received among his fellow artists and the people of his village, even though he lived in a modest accommodation in Bhopal.

Jangarh Singh was one of five tribal artists selected to be part of an art program called Other Masters at the Crafts Museum in New Delhi. Like many popular Indian artists, Shyam was also invited to work at the Mithila Museum in Japan, resulting in a body of works now in the museum's collection. Shyam passed away in 2001 and had a brief but exceptional career, leaving behind a powerful and dynamic legacy that sought the new while preserving the roots of the Gond artistic tradition.

BORN

1962, Mandla

DIED

July 6, 2001, Tokamachi, Niigata, Japan

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

1990 Artistic Heritage 10, New Delhi

1992 Chemould Art Gallery, Bombay

1995 In association with Madhya Pradesh Kala Parishad in Raipur

1997 Sahajhan Art Gallery, New Delhi

2009 Chemould Art Gallery, Mumbai

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

1984 Group Art Exhibition, Ahmedabad

1985 Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University of Baroda

1986 Guest Artists Triennial, New Delhi

1989 Indian Contemporary Art Biennale, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal

1983, 83, 84, 85, 86, 88 and 1991 Indian Contemporary Art, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal

1989 Bharat Bhavan International Print Biennale, Bhopal

1990 National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi

1990 LTG Gallery, New Delhi

1990 South Central Cultural Centre, Nagpur

1990 Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay

1992 All India Art Exhibition, Jaipur

1995 Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi

1998 Other Masters, Museum of Crafts, New Delhi

SELECTED ABROAD EXHIBITIONS

1988 Bharat Mahotsav, London

1988 Bharat Mahotsav, Japan

1989 Magiciens de la Terre, Center Pompidou, Paris

1992 Nine contemporary Indian artists, Netherlands

1993 Indian songs, multiple currents of contemporary Indian art, New South Wales, Australia

1998 Expeditions Indiennes, Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris

2010 Herve Perdriolle Gallery, Paris

2010 Painted Songs and Stories, Davis Museum, USA.

2010 Autres maitres de l'Inde, Quai Branly Museum, Paris

2012 Show and Tell, Cartier Foundation, Paris

2012 Gwangju Biennale, Korea

jangarh singh shyam painting prices