HAKU SHAH

Born on 26 March, 1934 in a small village named Valod of Gujarat. He is a renowned figurative artist from Baroda School. The emotions of folk and tribal art of India are originated in his skills. He is an eminent artist, a cultural anthropologist, teacher, Gandhian, an author of international repute on folk and tribal art. Associated with the National Institute of Design right from its inception in the early 1960’s, he was invited by Dr. Stella Kramrisch in 1967 to curate the seminal exhibition, “Unknown India” which traveled to USA. He established a tribal museum at Gujarat Vidyapeeth in Ahmedabad, which was set up by Mahatma Gandhi. He has conducted various art and design workshops and lectured across the world. He also taught at School of Architecture, Ahmedabad for several years and was Regent Professor at the University California, Davis. He has exhibited his artworks in major cities of India and across the world. Haku Shah is Chairman and founder trustee of Bhooma, Lok Shilpa Sansthan. He was awarded `Kala-Gaurava’ by Gujarat Lalit Kala Akademi for his immense contribution to art. He has also been associated with the Museum of Mankind, London; the Tropical Museum, Amsterdam; and the Mingi International Museum of World Folk Art in San Diego, California. He lives and works in Ahmedabad. ‘Haku Shah’s men and women emerge from the long enduring substratum of tribal – rural India, unaffected by fashionable obsolescence, yet compellingly contemporary in their tender gregariousness, in their moments of simple joys and wonder, sadness and hopes….Haku Shah’s men and women occupy a pictorial space with the steadfast presence of an icon…‘ says Santo Dutta, the well-known critic and art historian.

Haku Shah is a well-known figurative painter of the Baroda School and an authority on folk and tribal art. The simplicity of rural life fascinates him. His contact with tribes persons in his home state of Gujarat he made it his lifetime work discovering tribal rituals, culture and the tribal way of life. His collected tribal folk figurines and that led him to set up museums in India and abroad dedicated to the promotion of the simple life. Many of his works depict a blue shepherd or a herdsman. It has a universal appeal as it speaks for tribes across the globe. Though the image is simple it is embedded with layers not just of paint but of thought and concepts.