`I have yet to see one happy woman`---- B. Prabha. The painter B. Prabha has always attempted to portray the torment of women through her paintings. In this process she has almost immortalised the fisherwomen of Mumbai. The way she has represented these simple and rustic women along with their original classifiable hairstyles and bright sarees, it has become the characteristic feature of her painting style.
B. Prabha was born in 1933. This Indian artist dramatises her imagination mainly with oil colour. She is recognised for her elegant stretched figures of contemplative rural women in exclusive predominant colour with each canvas. B. Prabha started venturing into the world of art at the time when few Indian women artists were involved in full time art. Legendary painter Amrita Shergil had played an inspirational role in her creations. The `lives of rural women` became the main theme of her work. She had received her formal training in painting from the Nagpur School of Art. After that she shifted to Mumbai and graduated from Sir J. J. School of Art. She was married to sculptor and artist B. Vithal in 1956, who died in1992. She had to struggle for existence after coming to Mumbai. She conducted her first exhibition when she still was a student.
In the initial stage B. Prabha used to work on modern, freely furnished paintings. Her marriage and association with artist husband changed her visual aspect towards painting forever. She started experimenting with decorative watercolours by shifting her mind from modern abstract forms. In 1956 B. Prabha along with her husband held their first joint exhibition. The art world experienced her distinguished mark in the world after two years through the Bombay State Art Exhibition. The paintings and works of B. Prabha include a wide array of subjects, ranging from `landscapes to social issues like droughts, hunger and homelessness`. Using oil in her creation she has attempted to develop an elegant, formal style of her own. This style became her trademark. Throughout her professional career, she has held about 50 exhibitions, both in India and abroad. Acknowledging her talent she was conferred numerous accolades. This outstanding persona passed away in 2001.
