Madhvi Parekh (born 1942) is an Indian contemporary artist living in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

. Her work revolves around childhood memory, women’s craft, folk art and Indian myths. Although her inspirations are traditional, her style is contemporary as she was greatly influenced by

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented ...

. It represents folk art but does not draw from any one specific folk tradition.

Early life

Madhvi Parekh was born in the village of Sanjaya near

Ahmedabad, Gujarat Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per th ...

where her father was a Gandhian school teacher and postmaster. In 1957, at the age of fifteen, she married

Manu Parekh Manu Parekh is an Indian painter, known for his several paintings on the city of Varanasi. Reported to be influenced by Rabindranath Tagore and Ram Kinker Baij, Parekh is a recipient of the 1982 Lalit Kala Akademi Award. The Government of India ...

, an Indian artist who studied at the JJ School of Art. They moved first to Ahmedabad, then Mumbai where she did a course in

Montessori The Montessori method of education involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes indepen ...

training. In 1964, they then moved to Kolkata where they lived to 1965 before moving to New Delhi.

Career

Initially, Madhvi Parekh did not aspire to become an artist herself but her husband Manu inspired her to take up art. She started painting in the 1960s while pregnant with their first daughter, Manisha. In 1968, Madhvi exhibited her work for the first time at the Birla Academy in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. One of her paintings was selected to be in the annual show of

Lalit Kala Akademi The Lalit Kala Akademi or National Academy of Art (LKA) is India's national academy of fine arts. It is an autonomous organisation, established in New Delhi in 1954 by Government of India to promote and propagate understanding of Indian art, in ...

and then purchased by the national institution helping to launch her career. In 1973 she had her first solo show at the Chemould Art Gallery, Kolkata. Madhvi Parekh started painting by depicting memories of her childhood and fantasy. Her paintings are vivid and surreal. She started painting in traditional folk style and later gradually moved towards oil and acrylic on canvas and watercolor on paper, which allowed her the freedom to broaden her artistic imagination as well as find a language to express her views on women, children, urban and rural. Her daughter, Manisha Parekh is also a well noted Indian artist.

Influences

Madhvi Parekh's early works have been inspired by narratives and folk stories from her childhood spent in a rural part of India. Traditional floor designs of

Rangoli Rangoli is an art form that originates from in the Indian subcontinent, in which patterns are created on the floor or a tabletop using materials such as powdered lime stone, red ochre, dry rice flour, coloured sand, quartz powder, flower petal ...

made art a part of everyday household ritual for Madhvi, and this morphed in the first introduction to early forms of painting. In the initial days of their married life, artist-husband,

gifted Madhvi a book called Pedagogical Sketchbook by

, a Swiss German artist which formed an early influence on her style. Parekh's influences also include the Italian contemporary artist

Francesco Clemente Francesco Clemente (born 23 March 1952) is an Italian contemporary artist. He has lived at various times in Italy, India and New York City. Some of his work is influenced by the traditional art and culture of India. He has worked in various art ...

. Beginning with many solos, Madhvi participated in notable group shows such as, Play Turkey and Yugoslavia in 1985, Watercolours by Four Women Artists, Bharat Bhavan,

Bhopal Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...

in 1987 and

Jehangir Art Gallery Jehangir Art Gallery is an art gallery in Mumbai (India). It was founded by Sir Cowasji Jehangir at the urging of K. K. Hebbar and Homi Bhabha. It was built in 1952. Managed by the Committee of Management, the entire cost of this mansion was ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

in 1987.

Awards and recognition

Select exhibitions

Solo

The Curious Seeker I Madhvi Parekh: RetrospectiveDAG
Delhi, Mumbai and New York I Sept 2017 - Oct 2019 *The Last Supper

in Kolkata, New Delhi I 2011 - 2013

Group

* Through the Looking Glass: Watercolours with Arpita Singh, Nalini Malani and Nilima Sheikh in Bhopal, New Delhi, Bombay and Bangalore I 1987 - 1989 * The Self and the World, presented by Gallery Espace at th
National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA)
New Delhi I 1997

Publications

* Singh, Kishore, ed. (2017). ''Madhvi Parekh: The Curious Seeker'' , New Delhi: DAG Modern. ISBN 978-93-81217-65-8.

References

Women artists from Gujarat Indian women painters 1942 births Living people Painters from Gujarat 21st-century women artists {{india-artist-stub 21st-century Indian women artists 20th-century Indian artists