B. Prabha

B. Prabha (1933-2001) started working at a time when India had few women artists. Deeply inspired by the work of seminal modernist Amrita Shergil, the protagonists of Prabha works were usually women. She was moved by the plight of rural women, and over time, they became the main theme of her work. B. Prabha primarily worked in oil. She is best known for her depictions of graceful elongated figures of pensive rural women, each dominated by a single colour.

While her work today might seem like a simple documentation of the figures of rural women, it must be taken into account that a few decades ago these might have been odes to the spirit and the plight of these women. As she famously said, It is my aim to paint the trauma and tragedy of women.