Jyotindra Manshankar Bhatt (12 March 1934), better known as Jyoti Bhatt, is an Indian artist best known for his modernist work in painting and printmaking and also his photographic documentation of rural Indian culture. He studied painting under

N. S. Bendre Narayan Shridhar Bendre (21 August 1910 – 19 February 1992), was a 20th-century Indian artist and one of the founder members of Baroda Group Narayan Shridhar Bendre was born in Indore. He made a name for himself as a landscape artist. ...

and

K.G. Subramanyan Kalpathi Ganpathi "K.G." Subramanyan (1924 29 June 2016) was an Indian artist. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2012. Life Subramanyan was born in Tamil Brahmin family on 1924 in Kuthuparamba in Kerala, India, and initially studied econ ...

at the

Faculty of Fine Arts In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

Maharaja Sayajirao University The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, formerly Baroda College, is a public university in the city of Vadodara, in Gujarat state, India. Originally established as a college in 1881, it became a university in 1949 after the independence of ...

(M.S.U.),

Baroda Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capital ...

. Later he studied fresco and mural painting at Banasthali Vidyapith in Rajasthan, and in the early 1960s went on to study at the Academia di Belle Arti in Naples, Italy, as well the Pratt Institute in New York. He was awarded the

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, ...

in 2019 and elected as a Fellow of the Lalit Kala Akademi in 2022.

Biography

Bhatt moved from a cubist influence in his early work to a lighthearted and colorful Pop art that often drew its imagery from traditional Indian folk designs. Though Bhatt worked in a variety of mediums, including watercolors and oils, it is his printmaking that ultimately garnered him the most attention. In 1966 Bhatt returned to M.S.U. Baroda with a thorough knowledge of the intaglio process that he had gained at the Pratt Institute at Brooklyn in New York. It was partially Bhatt's enthusiasm for intaglio that caused other artists such as Jeram Patel,

Bhupen Khakhar Bhupen Khakhar (also spelled Bhupen Khakkar, 10 March 1934 – 8 August 2003) was an Indian artist. He was a member of the Baroda Group and gained international recognition for his work as "India's first 'Pop' artist." Works Khakhar was a sel ...

and Gulammohammed Sheikh, to take up the same process. Bhatt, and his compatriots at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Baroda, soon came to be known as "The Baroda School" of Indian art. Late in the 1960s, Bhatt was asked to take photographs of Gujarati folk art. Initially, this work was done for a seminar, but it soon became one of the artist's passions to document traditional Indian craft and design work. The disappearing arts of rural Gujarat became a focus. Though Bhatt's investigations into a village and tribal designs certainly influenced the motifs he used in his printmaking, Bhatt considers his documentary photographs to be an art form in themselves. His direct and simply composed photographs have become valued on their own merit. Throughout Bhatt's long career as a teacher at the M.S.U.

, he has photographed the evolution of the university, the artistic activities of its faculty and students, and the architecturally significant buildings of Baroda. This huge body of work is perhaps the best assembled photographic documentation that pertains to "The Baroda School" of Indian art. It is Jyoti Bhatt's prints, however, that are most associated with the artist. His etchings, intaglios, and screen prints have explored and re-explored a personal language of symbols that stem from Indian culture: the peacock, the parrot, the lotus, stylized Indian gods and goddesses, and unending variations on tribal and village designs. Recently he has explored digital printing and holography. His work is in numerous international collections, including the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, New York,

The Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, Washington D.C.,

The British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...

, London. and the

Museum of Art & Photography The Museum of Art and Photography (MAP) is a private art museum based in Bangalore, India that is a custodian to a collection of Indian art, textiles, photography, craft, and design objects spanning from the twelfth century to the present. M ...

, Bangalore.

Personal life

Jyoti Bhatt met

Jyotsna Bhatt Jyotsna Jyoti Bhatt (6 March 194011 July 2020) was an Indian ceramist and potter. She first studied at and then for forty years taught at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda . Biography Jyotsna Bhatt was born on 6 March 1940 in Mandvi, ...

, a potter, during her college years and they married later. They lived in Vadodara. They had a daughter, Jaii. Jyotsna Bhatt was a ceramic artist and a professor of ceramics and she died in 2020.

Recognition

* A top prize, World Photo Contest, at Fotokina, Germany. (1978) * Grand Prix, 13th Annual Photo contest for Asia and Pacific, UNESCO, Japan. (1989) * President's Gold Plaque and National Award, 1956. * First Prize for the postal stamps design for the 25th Anniversary of Independence of India. * Bronze Medal, at Nikon world Photo Contest. Japan. *

(2019) *

Dhirubhai Thakar Savyasachi Saraswat Award The Dhirubhai Thakar Savyasachi Saraswat Award is an honour in Gujarat, India, given annually to the person who has contributed significantly in the field of Arts. The award, created in honour of Gujarati writer and scholar Dhirubhai Thaker, is ...

(2020) * Fellowship of Lalit Kala Akademi (2022)

References

External links

Jyoti Bhatt: The photographer who preserved rural Indian life
by the BBC

*Saffronart
Artist Profile
*Delhi Art Gallery,
Artist Profile
*Indiaar

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhatt, Jyotindra Manshankar 1934 births 20th-century Indian photographers Living people Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda alumni 20th-century Indian painters Indian male painters People from Bhavnagar Photographers from Gujarat Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda faculty 20th-century Indian male artists 21st-century Indian painters 21st-century Indian photographers 21st-century Indian male artists Fellows of the Lalit Kala Akademi