Biennale celebrates artistic practices of Baroda artist Jyoti Bhatt on his 92 nd birth Anniversary

Bhatt oldest artist to feature in KMB-2025

Kochi / March 11, 2026

Kochi, Mar 11: A bridge between the traditional and modern, widely acclaimed artist Jyoti Bhatt celebrates his 92-birth anniversary today (March 12) with his oeuvre spanning nearly seven decades featured in Space, Indian Chamber of Commerce, Mattancherry, at the ongoing Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB).

Known for his modernist work in painting and printmaking and also his photographic documentation of rural Indian culture, his openness and drive to learn anything new in art set him apart and spurred him to work till recently.

The oldest artist to be featured at KMB-2025, Bhatt’s stints as artist, printmaker, photographer, and teacher are reflected in the 42 eclectic works from 1950 to 2023, tracing his journey along with the nation. After exploring charcoal, pastel, oil and watercolour, he essayed different media and material with remarkable ease.

He also attempted cubism in his own way. “Cubist influence appeared in my early work and gave way to the pop art sort of imagery I imbibed from traditional Indian folk designs,” said Bhatt.

Pop art caught his fancy when he was asked to take photographs of Gujarati folk art for a seminar at the Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan in Mumbai. “I chronicled the rural rituals and practices and arts in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar and West Bengal from 1967 to 1995, visiting tribal belts and documenting them place-specifically, especially the fast- fading traditions,” he pointed out.

He was an expert in editing photos even before Photoshop was heard of.

He took up painting while at Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda; explored fresco and mural painting at Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan, his alma mater, where he joined the Faculty of Fine Arts from 1959 to 1992. He also set up Baroda Group of Artists there.

A scholarship under the Italian Government was a turning point. His days in Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli in Italy (1961-62) were followed by printmaking in Pratt Institute and Pratt Graphic Art Center, New York (1964-66) on Fulbright Scholarship and JD Rockefeller III Fund fellowship, which opened doors to graphics, collage and mixed-media works.

Printing from an Intaglio plate is too mechanical and tedious. At times, final printing keeps pending and Artist’s Proofs (limited edition print) pile up, some of which are featured at the KMB-2025.

His personal idioms are evident in his forms derived from indigenous cultures, stylised Indian gods and goddesses, peacock, parrot, lotus in his etchings, screen prints and intaglios. He has portrayed the ‘Kolam’, the ritualistic and spiritual floor art of Tamil Nadu worshiping nature and its element.

“I adore the multiplicity of the print medium,” he said.

KMB-2025 curator Nikhil Chopra said Bhatt’s exhibition has been classified into three clusters — The Making of the Nation; Man and Machines; and Animal love.

Bhatt pays tribute to the nation’s leaders such as Gandhiji. Nehru, Ambedkar in one frame; ‘Homage to Iqbal’; ‘Homage to unknown wood engravers’ in another. Texts add depth to his visuals topped with philosophy, wit, humour and satire felt in the words ‘Mera Bharat Kahan’, taking the viewers back and forth to pre-Independence days, Partition and Post-Independence.

“I have seen women embroidering local parlance into their traditional visuals in the Saurashtra region,” he said. One will not miss the sense of humanity, empathy and community in his works.

In another work layered with symbols and images representing globalisation, Indian cultural and ritualistic motifs recur, flags of countries, abbreviations such as LIC, PAN, BBC, ATM, and UFO speak of the contributions to nation-building.

 

ENDS