B. Prabha Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth and Family

Posthumously, Prabha’s work has been included in exhibitions such as ‘Winter Moderns’ at Aicon Gallery, New York, and ‘Pot Pourri’ at Gallery Beyond, Mumbai, both in 2008.

In 1962-63, B. Prabha was part of a small group of acclaimed young artists invited to participate in a competition process to create the single most significant work commissioned by the TIFR – an over 13 foot mural to be executed in the building’s central foyer. Whilst the commission was eventually awarded to the artist M.F. Husain, B. Prabha’s proposed painting (Black Moon, 1963) in maquette form, continues to be on display nearby.

Over the years Prabha held more than 50 exhibitions in India and abroad. She held two solo shows at Delhi’s Kumar Gallery in 1959 and 1961. Her solo exhibition ‘Shradhanjali’ in Mumbai in 1993 was dedicated to her late husband B.Vithal. Prabha’s work was also part of the group exhibition ‘Contemporary Indian Painters’ at Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai in 1996. She was also a part of the Bombay State Art Exhibition in 1958 where she was awarded the first prize.

At her first exhibition, held when she was still a student at art school, 3 of Prabha’s paintings were acquired by Homi J. Bhabha, eminent nuclear scientist and patron of the arts, for the iconic art collection of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Prabha’s signature formal style evolved after her marriage to B. Vithal, when she moved from a modern abstraction to more decorative figuration. The artist couple held their first joint exhibition in 1956, the year they were married.

Air India bought its first set of six paintings for Rs 87.50 in 1956 from B Prabha, then still a young art graduate. Prabha walked into Air India’s art department and asked if the company would buy some of her paintings of Indian women. The officials agreed and a new art collection was born. The “Maharajah Collection” as it came to called, expanded to 4000 works over the next six decades and more, becoming one of India’s most important art collections. The collection, which started with Prabha, aimed to put a little bit of India, both past and modern present, into the booking offices and spaces of the airline worldwide.

Badwelgar or B. Prabha grew up in the small village of Bela, near Nagpur in Maharashtra, India. She studied at the Nagpur School of Art, before moving to Bombay on a scholarship, completing her Diploma in Painting and Mural Painting at the Sir J. J. School of Art in the year 1954-55. It was here that she met her husband, the artist and sculptor, B. Vithal, whom she married in 1956. In Bombay, the artist couple struggled to make their way, selling pieces of family jewellery and sometimes depending on the assistance of friends for a place to stay and store their works.

B. Prabha (1933 – 2001) was a prolific Indian artist who worked primarily in oil on canvas. She is best known for her graceful, elongated figures of pensive rural women, each dominated by a single colour. By the time of her death, her work had been shown in over 50 exhibitions, and had found its way into significant art collections, including India’s National Gallery of Modern Art, the TIFR Art Collection and the Air India Art Collection.