Jivya Soma Mashe (1934 - 15 May 2018) was an artist of the

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

state in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, who popularised the

Warli The Warli or ''Varli'' are an indigenous tribe (Adivasi) of western India, living in mountainous as well as coastal areas along the Maharashtra-Gujarat border and surrounding areas. They are considered by some to be a sub-caste of the Bhil tribe ...

tribal art Tribal art is the visual arts and material culture of indigenous peoples. Also known as non-Western art or ethnographic art, or, controversially, primitive art, Dutton, Denis, Tribal Art'. In Michael Kelly (editor), ''Encyclopedia of Aesthetics. ...

form. Mashe was born in Dhamangaon village in

Talasari Talasari is a city and a municipal council in Palghar district of Maharashtra state in Konkan division. It is one of the taluka A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries ...

taluka of

Thane district Thane district (Pronunciation: �ʰaːɳe previously named Taana or Thana) is a district in the Konkan Division of Maharashtra, India. At the 2011 Census it was the most populated district in the country, with 11,060,148 inhabitants; however, i ...

of Maharashtra. At the age of 11, he came to Kalambipada village in

Dahanu Dahanu (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, �əɦaːɳuː is a coastal town and a municipal council in Palghar district of Maharashtra, Maharashtra state in Konkan division. It is located 110 km from Mumbai city and hosts Adani Power’s ...

taluka of Thane district. In the 1970s the

Warli painting Warli painting is a form of tribal art mostly created by the tribal people from the North Sahyadri Range in Maharashtra, India. This range encompasses cities such as Dahanu, Talasari, Jawhar, Palghar, Mokhada, and Vikramgad of Palghar district ...

, which was a predominantly ritual art till that time, took a radical turn, when Jivya Mashe started to paint not for any special ritual, but on an everyday basis. His talent was soon noticed, first nationally (it was rewarded straight from the hand of India's senior political figures, such as

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

and

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

) then internationally (

Magiciens de la terre Magiciens de la Terre was a contemporary art exhibit at the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Grande halle de la Villette from 18 May to 14 August 1989. Background Primitivism Magiciens de la Terre literally translates to "Magicians of the Earth." ...

Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

), bringing unprecedented recognition, which prompted many other young men to follow suit. They started to paint regularly for commercial purposes.

Life

Jivya Soma Mashe lost his mother when seven years old; out of shock he stopped speaking for several years, communicating only by drawing pictures in the dust. This strange attitude soon won him a special status within his community. The first government agents sent to preserve and protect

were impressed by his artistic abilities. Jivya Soma Mashe showed a heightened sensitivity and unusually powerful imagination, which it was conjectured was a legacy of his early introspective period. Paper and canvas freed him from the constraints of working on rough, sheer walls and he transformed the brusque look of the ephemeral paintings into a free, deeply sensitive style. His sensitivity emerged in every detail of his paintings. Strokes, lines and a mass of dots swarm and vibrate on the canvas, coming together to form clever compositions which reinforce the general impression of vibration. Details and the overall composition both contribute to a sense of life and movement. Recurring themes, from tribal life and Warli legends, are also a pretext for celebrating life and movement. Jivya Soma Mashe summed up the deep feeling which animates the Warli people, saying "There are human beings, birds, animals, insects, and so on. Everything moves, day and night. Life is movement". The Warli,

adivasi The Adivasi refers to inhabitants of Indian subcontinent, generally tribal people. The term is a Sanskrit word coined in the 1930s by political activists to give the tribal people an indigenous identity by claiming an indigenous origin. The term ...

, or the

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

, speak to us of ancient times and evoke an ancestral culture. An in-depth study of this culture may give further insight into the cultural and religious foundations of modern

. He died aged 84 on 15 May 2018 and was accorded a state funeral. Jivya has two sons Sadashiv and Balu and a daughter. His elder son, Sadashiv was born in 1958. Both of his sons are well known exponents of this art form.

Exhibitions

A Warli painting by Jivya Soma Mashe, Thane district

The first exhibition of Jivya was held at the Gallery Chemould, Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai in 1975 by the initiative of Bhaskar Kulkarni, who first introduced this master to the outside world. His first exhibition outside India was at the Palais de Menton, France in 1976. In 2003, he had a joint exhibition with Richard Long at

Museum Kunst Palast The Kunstpalast, formerly Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf is an art museum in Düsseldorf. History The roots of the museum go back around 300 years. In 1932, the collection of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Academy of Art) was housed in the Kunstmus ...

in Düsseldorf, Germany, and in 2004 at

Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea The Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea or PAC is a museum of contemporary art in Milan, Italy. It is on via Palestro, next to the Galleria d'Arte Moderna, and across from the Giardini Pubblici Indro Montanelli. History In 1947 the Municipality o ...

, Milano, Italy. These were followed by the exhibitions at

Shippensburg University Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania (Ship or SU) is a public university in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. Founded in 1871, it later became the first teachers college in Pennsylvania. ...

, United States in 2006 and at Halle Saint-Pierre, Paris (jointly with

Nek Chand Nek Chand Saini (15 December 1924 – 12 June 2015) was a self-taught Indian artist, known for building the Rock Garden of Chandigarh, an eighteen-acre sculpture garden in the city of Chandigarh. Early life and background Nek Chand hailed fro ...

) in 2007. In July, 2007 another exhibition of his paintings was held at the Gallery Chemould, Mumbai.

Awards and honours

National Award The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorate ...

for the Tribal Art (1976) *''

Shilp Guru The Shilp Guru is the highest honour in the Indian handicrafts sector awarded by Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles, Government of India. It is conferred annually upon 10 master craftspersons who have created an exception ...

'' award (2002). *

Prince Claus Award The Prince Claus Fund was established in 1996, named in honor of Prince Claus of the Netherlands. It receives an annual subsidy from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Fund has presented the international Prince Claus Awards annually si ...

for his Warli paintings (2009). *

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

for his contribution towards Warli painting (2011).

References

External links

Jivya Soma Mase's Page

Jivya Soma Mashe Blog

Jivya Soma Mashe a legendary Warli artist

Nek Chand — Jivya Soma Mashe, Halle Saint Pierre, Paris

Warli Art Home Page

The Warli Painting Artist Jivya Soma Mashe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mashe, Jivya Soma 1934 births 2018 deaths Painters from Maharashtra Indian male painters People from Thane district Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts 20th-century Indian painters Folk artists 20th-century Indian male artists

Life

Exhibitions

Awards and honours

See also

References

External links