Jayasri Burman Age, Husband, Family, Biography & More

Bio/Wiki
Profession	Artist
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)	in centimeters- 168 cm in meters- 1.68 m in feet & inches- 5’ 6”
Eye Colour	Black
Hair Colour	Black
Career
Artforms	• Painting • Sculpture
Themes	• Feminisim Burman’s artworks are mainly based on bold themes such as feminism. Despite of calling herself a feminist, she manages to present women with an empowered status in her artwork. The artist never embodies male gods in her artwork, except of Lord Krishna and Buddha, which she has used in some of her art pieces. Her artworks usually contain drawings of Indian deities, which she accompanied by designs of floral patterns (especially lotus), cows, deer, fish, elephants, and other symbols. • Flora and Fauna The another theme used by Burman in her artworks is flora and fauna. She prominently use the hybrid figures and wildlife to make intricate designs in her paintings, which reflects her intimacy and love for nature. In an interview, Burman talked about the frequent use of ducks in her intricate designs and said that during her stay in Shantiniketan, she used to observe the Santa women, who lives with lots of children and ducks in the interior villages of Shantiniketan, where Burman used to visit to make sketches. She said that she love and enjoy the scenario and tries to imitate that in her paintings and sculptures.
Selected Solo Exhibitions	• Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai (1992) • Gallerie Ganesha, New Delhi (2000) • Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore (2002) • Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai by Gallerie Ganesha, New Delhi Gallerie Ganesha, New Delhi (2004) • “Fairytales and Laments: The Mythology of Jayasri Burman” at Arts India, Palo Alto, USA (2005) • “Sacred Feminine” at Art Musings in Mumbai (2006) • “Fables and Folklore” at Art Musings at Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai, “The Mythical Universe” at Art Alive Gallery in New Delhi and at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi (2010) • “Lila,” Art Musings at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, and “Gazing into Myth,” Gallery Sumukha, Hong Kong (2014) • “Antaryatra,” Gallery Sanskriti at the Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Kolkata (2015) • “Born of Fire: A Tale of our Times” at Aicon Gallery in New York, USA (2018)
Selected Group Exhibitions	1984 • Three Person Exhibition, Paris 1989 • Young Faces in Contemporary Indian Art, Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata 1990 • Kolkata through the Eyes of Painters, Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata 1991 • A Tribute to Vincent Van Gogh, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi 1996 • Urban Signals, Shifting Images-­‐II, Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Mumbai 1997 • Panchadashi, Gallery La Mere, Kolkata 1999 • Emerging Trends, Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata 2001 • Indian Contemporary, Hong Kong • Indian Contemporary Fine Art, Los Angeles, USA 2002 •The Family‐3, With Sakti Burman, Maya Burman, Jayasri Burman, Apparao Gallery, Chennai 2001-02 • Modi Foundation, London • Bollywood Show, Selfridges, London • Group Show of Bengal Art, Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata 2003 • Workshop in Egypt with Indian Contemporary Artists by BAYAR ABS 2004 • Brahma to Bapu, Annual Show, Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata • Shadanga, Gallerie Ganesha, New Delhi • Visual Art Gallery, London • Gallery 27, Cork Street, London 2005 • Tate Britain and Chelsea College of Arts, London 2006 • LASALLE, IIFA, Singapore 2007 • An Indian Summer, Art Alive Gallery at Gallery 28, Cork Street, London • Power of Peace, India Art Tokyo – Imprints 2008 • The Journey, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai • X at the rate of Jehangir, Art Musings at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai 2009 • Think Small, Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi • Beyond the Form, Bajaj Capital Art House; Visual Art Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi • Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai 2010 • Evolve, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai • Summer Show 2010, Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata • Size Matters or Does it?, Latitude 28, New Delhi • Annual Exhibition, Chawla Art Gallery, New Delhi 2011 • Sensitization, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai • Aureus, Gallerie Nvya, New Delhi 2012 • Synergy, Small is Beautiful, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai • Art Toronto: Focus Asia, Gallery Sumukha at Toronto, Canada • An Alternative Perspective, Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata • The Living Walls: Where Gallery walls become Artist’s Canvas, Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi • Women: Sacred and the Temporal, Shrishti Art Gallery, Hyderabad 2013 • Equilibrium, Beyond the Canvas, Small is Beautiful, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai • When High and Low Meet, Art Alive Gallery, curated by Rupika Chawla, New Delhi • Art Stage Singapore, Sumukha Art Gallery, Singapore 2013-14 • Kalasutra I & II, Sanchit Art Gallery, Singapore 2014 • St Moritz Art Masters 2014, Switzerland, Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi • Infinite, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai 2015 • The Ecstasy of Art, Tao’s 15th Anniversary Show 2016 • Art Now 2016, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai organized by Art Alive Gallery 2017 • Art Now 2017, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi organized by Art Alive Gallery 2018 • Viswaroopa – The Form of Universe, Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Kolkata 2011-2018 • Indian Art Fair, New Delhi
Awards, Honours, Achievements	• An award by the College of Visual Arts in Tempera for Outstanding Merit in the Annual Exhibition in 1979 • National Academy Award for her painting Jeley (The Fisherman) in 1984 • Padma Shri award from the Government of India in 1985 • Certificate of Merit from the All India Youth Art Exhibition in 1987 • In 2007, a commemorative stamp was released on Women’s Day by the Government of India on which the artworks of Jayasri Burman were printed. • Indian Federation Chamber of Commerce Award in 2008 • In 2016, she was awarded by the Government of West Bengal for making the best Durga Puja Idol for Behala Nutun Dal, a cultural association in Kolkata, West Bengal. • ICON of Indian Art Award by Verve Magazine in 2017 • Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Award at the 20th Beti FLO GR8 Awards in 2018 • 'She Award' given by The Telegraph in 2021
Personal Life
Date of Birth	Year, 1960
Age (as of 2022)	63 Years
Birthplace	Kolkata
Nationality	Indian
College/University	• Kala Bhawana Institute of Fine Arts, Shantiniketan, Kolkata • Government College of Art and Crafts, Kolkata
Educational Qualification(s)	• Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from Kala Bhawana Institute of Fine Arts, Shantiniketan, Kolkata • Master of Arts in painting from Government College of Art and Crafts, Kolkata
Religion	Hinduism
Relationships & More
Marital Status	Married
Family
Husband/Spouse	She was married twice. Her second husband's name is Paresh Maity, who is a renowned artist.
Children	Son- Riddhibrata (‘Rid’) Burman (photographer) Daughter- None
Parents	Father- Satya Prasad Roy Burman (founder of Khadim) Mother- Name not known
Siblings	Brother- Siddhartha Roy Burman (art collector) Sister- None
Other Relatives	Maya Burman (cousin; artist) Sakti Burman (uncle; artist)
Favourites
Painter(s)	Leonardo Da Vinci, Picasso, Van Gogh, Botticelli, Chagall, Jogen Chowdhury.

Some Lesser Known Facts About Jayasri Burman

• Jayasri Burman is a contemporary Indian artist known for her watercolour paintings and bronze sculptures. She takes inspiration from Indian mythology and Bengali traditions for her artwork.

• Her artworks mainly incorporate the Indian deities, the idea of worshipping goddesses, and ‘mother.’ She portrays Indian women as divine beings in her artwork and tries to deliver the message of nurturing ‘mother’ and ‘Mother Earth’ through it.

• When she was a child, she was introduced to the works of Rabindranath Tagore by her father.

• After completing her master’s degree, Burman went to Paris to learn printmaking under the guidance of Monsieur Ceizerzi. She also participated in a graphic art workshop with Paul Lingren during her stay there.

• In an interview, she talked about her sufferings in her first marriage. She said that her first marriage dissolved after 17 years and also lost her baby.

• Burman’s artworks are primarily based on the amalgamation of myths and reality that she draws from the works of Rabindranath Tagore, drama, and the great Indian epics; of Ramayana and Mahabharata. In an interview, she talked about this and said,
  

  I use mythological characters as the subjects of my paintings, but I take the liberty of bestowing them with a contemporary lifestyle.” 

• She is known for maintaining refreshing candour and reflective honesty despite using Indian folk elements in her artworks. In many of her paintings, she has used the Indian folk art techniques of Kalighat and Patachitra paintings to make intricate patterns.

• The artist believes that colours and lines bear their autonomous symbolic meanings. She mainly prefers to use watercolours in her paintings and the most common colours used by her in her paintings are red, blue, and radiant saffron.

• She has a strong impact of the River Ganga on her, which reflects in most of her artworks. In an interview, she revealed that when she was a child, she used to visit River Ganga every year with her father to perform Luxmi Puja. She said that she love to observe the visuals of the river bank on her visit. While talking about this in the interview, she said,
  

  I wanted to locate the source of all this power.” She added, “As a child, these things greatly impact you. Ganga became an indelible part of how I saw the world.”

• Burman paid a tribute to the River Ganga through her art series ‘River of Faith.’ It took her 12 years to complete the series. In 2021, her art series was presented by the Gallery Art Exposure in Bikaner House. In an interview, Burman talked about the devastation and destruction of the water of the rivers during the pandemic of COVID-19 and  said,
  

  These were people who died of Covid-19 but since there was no space for cremation, their bodies were thrown into the river. Personally speaking, it was very heartbreaking for me to see Maa Ganga being turned into an open burial ground.” ^[1]Open
  

• Some of the notable artworks from the series “River of Faith” include ‘Ambika,’ ‘Jahnvi I,’ ‘Jahnvi III,’ and ‘Adhisree.’
  

  Painting ‘Ambika’ by Jayasri Burman

  

  The bronze statue ‘Jahnvi I’ by Jayasri Burman

• Her art series “Born of Fire” is a tribute to Draupadi, who is a prominent character in the great Indian epic Mahabharata. Draupadi was born from a yajna (fire sacrifice) organized by her father,  King Drupada of Panchala. In an interview, she talked about the  bravery, sacrifice, and courage of Draupadi and said,
  

  Draupadi is the truest champion of justice and fair play, she stands for women rights and humanity.” She added, “Draupadi is our symbol of hope and fortitude and (I believe) she must remain in the midst of our lives as an icon woman we can all draw inspiration from. She belongs to us!” ^[2]Jayasri Burman 

• Her art series “Born of Fire” consists of two parts, one includes colourful paintings and other sketches. Some notable paintings from this series include ‘Draupadi and the five Pandavas,’ ‘Draupadi and the Game of Dice,’ ‘Born of Fire,’ and ‘Ratna Kuntala.’
  

  Painting ‘Draupadi and the five Pandavas’ by Jayasri Burman

• Burman made the installation ‘Primordial Power’ by using sculptures of tiger faces and votive churnis. In India, there is a practice of offering votive churnis and garlands by the devotees to their gods or goddess in temples and mosques to get their wishes fulfilled. The artist believes that each votive offering depicts the story of the devotee and the use of these votive churnis in her art piece expresses the faith of devotees in god. In this installation, the use of the face of tiger, which in Hinduism is considered a divine vehicle of the goddess Durga, symbolises the intangible power that destroys evil and builds vigour of hope.
  The tiger finds its roots in my birthplace, Bengal, which prides in harbouring the Royal Bengal Tiger. It will bot be wrong to mention that they are reminiscent off the panel where they are “prancing, proud and unafraid” in Adrienne Rich’s Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers’, Basking in their feminine fires.”
  

  Jayasri Burman with her installation ‘Primordial Power’

• In 2005, Burman organised an exhibition titled “The Family” along with her her husband, Paresh Maity, her uncle Sakti Burman, and her cousin Maya Burman.

• In an interview, the artist revealed that in foreign countries, her artworks are mainly bought by elderly people as according to them, they feel attracted to and emotionally connected to the Indianness in her paintings.

• In an interview, she revealed that to get inspiration for her artwork, she has travelled to various places such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, and Madhya Pradesh.

• In an interview, while praising the artworks of Jayasri Burman, the famous Indian poet and painter Pritish Nandy said,
  

  The significant factor about Jayasri’s art is that it is not just about our past, our tradition, our mythologies, it is also about today. It is this enchanting integration of cultures, language, idiom and narratives that makes her such a remarkable chronicler of our times.”

• In his book “A Mythical Universe,” Prof. Partha Mitter described the themes used by Jayasri Burman in her artworks, and wrote,  
  

  Jayasri’s themes deal with the feminine, with the empowerment of women through the traditional language of the sacred in Hinduism, her inspiration is the variety of incarnations of Shakti or female energy, the great Goddess, who is considered the mother of the universe. With her muted but engaged feminism, Jayasri Burman refashions the universe of Hindu mythology, which acquires in her paintings an entirely contemporary meaning and nuance. This is the best sense tradition, reinterpreted, reinvented, revised and re-imagined for India of today.”