Bhavsar, Natvar

Other Names: Prahladji

"Natvar Bhavsar was born in Gothava, Gujarat in India in 1934 where the colorful palette of Indian Miniature painting holds a distinguished history. The omnipresence of color in all aspects of life, culture and religion pervaded his childhood, playing in the midst of huge vats of pigment, the memory of expanses of hand-dyed cloth floating above him, the tossing of dry pigment everywhere during the Holi festival, these are the memories that were later to fill his work. After graduating from the C.N. School of Art in Ahmedabad in 1955 he turned to art as a career. Advanced study in art and English literature led to other degrees including a BA from Gujarat University in 1960. He came to the US in 1962, attended the Graduate School of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania where he met many important people in the arts. After receiving a Rockefeller Fellowship in 1965 he moved to the SoHo district of New York where he continues to live and work. He started exhibiting at Max Hutchinson Gallery in 1970 and received a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship in 1975. Straining powdered pigment through a screen onto a canvas heavily soaked with binder, he creates what Irving Sandler has called 'cloud like...continuums of color in which there are no recognizable subjects or discrete forms.' His works are included in numerous public and private collections."

Robert Lee, Asian American Arts Centre, 2000

Gallery of Selected Works

Untitled (1999) Akshyaa (1992) Maagdhi (1985) Untitled (1984) K-Etu (1974) Tara (1973) Archan (1971)