Women Artists in the Kerala Museum Collection

The first women artist to have a studio of her own in the 19th century was Mangala Bayi Thampuratti. She was taught to paint by her uncle Raja Raja Varma while older brother Raja Ravi Varma often assisted in improving her skills. She was often asked to suggest improvements to his work too.
 
Mangala Bayi depicted domestic and devotional themes in her paintings. She was well-known for her portraits of women and children too. Though Mangala Bayi painted with equal proficiency as her brothers and in the same Western academic artistic style, the social structures of the era prevented women to pursue art as a profession, and so she painted only as a ‘hobby’. Her works therefore remains mostly in the homes of private collectors.

B. Prabha drew her inspiration from Amrita Shergil. She was moved by the lives of rural women, and over time, they became the main theme of her work.
 
Prabha worked mainly in oil, in an instantly recognizable style. She is best known for graceful elongated figures of pensive rural women, with each canvas in a single dominant color.

She also uses symbolic figures and metaphoric elements through her works, such as the pair of dancing feet on a scale depicting the passage of time.

Jaysri Burman studied print-making in Paris. Her work has been exhibited in the 1987 International Triennale, Germany, Gallery Sumukha in Hong Kong, Royal Cultural Centre in Amman and others.

Burman works mainly in watercolor, using rich strong hues and bold themes with a mythical element—strange hybrid animals with human heads and female figures.

Together with her father, artist Ratan Parimoo, she’s brought out a complete book titled 'The Art of Naina Dalal: Contemporary Indian Printmaker'. It has articles, commentary and critiques of Dalal’s work over the years, along with detailed prints of her work and process.

The female figure and the shoes left alone in a silent somber space near the bench evoke feelings of isolation and abandonment

Rekha Rodwittiya belongs to a generation of artists that sought to make visible their clearly articulated feminist intentions in their art. Commenting on her artistic practice, Rodwittiya says –

“My work displays a consistent involvement with the human figure as a leitmotif to embody man’s predicament. I’ve also made a conscious choice to engage with the delineation of the female figure over time”.

Her works are in various private and public collections in India, U.K., U.S.A., Brazil, Italy, West Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands.

Rini Dhumal was a student of Shantiniketan. She studied printmaking under Somnath Hore at Shantiniketan and painting under KG Subramanyan at Baroda, where she also later taught for 18 years.

Her works predominantly engage with issues of gender. Strong female figures consistently appear in her works. She participated in several national and international exhibitions.