Bhubaneswar: Paintings of 97-year-old renowned Odia artist, Banshidhar Pratihary—recipient of Dharmapada award—are being displayed at a seven-day exhibition in Mumbai’s famed Jehangir Art Gallery, which has the repute of holding exhibitions showcasing works of MF Hussain.
Pratihary is known for lending a mystical quality to his paintings. He hails from Odisha’s obscure village, Rajgarh. He had studied fine arts for six years Visva-Bharati’s Kala Bhavana in Shantiniketan. According to a report published in The New Indian Express, he was under doyens of Modern Indian Art such as Nandalal Bose, Dhirendra Krishna Deb Barman and Ramkinkar Baij.
The artist had once told in an interview to The New Indian Express that he was fascinated by
Nandalal Bose’s style of painting as he was a master of line drawing and the way he used to draw, it reminded him of Ajanta cave paintings.
The exhibition was graced by art historian, Pheroza Godrej. She is also one of the leading art collectors of India. The national museum or NGMA (Delhi) was the right place for showcasing Bansidhar’s works, said Anupam Pratihary, the artist’s son. The exhibition also showcased the paintings of Aashima Mehrotra, an artist and civil servant whose engagement with art dates back to childhood.
Mehrotra’s paintings feature subjects that are drawn from people, nature, and the places she had travelled. A self-taught artist, she was shaped by the works of Nandlal Bose, Amrita Sher-Gil, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, and Vincent van Gogh. Her craft matured under the guidance of Veer Munshi and Banshidhar Pratihary of Santiniketan. Her career in Railways and Tourism has taken her across India. This gave her an experience that continues to shape her vision.
Her painting ‘Laapataa Ladies’ was selected for the prestigious 64th National Exhibition of Art, 2024-25 by Lalit Kala Academy, Government of India. She also secured fourth place in the ‘Art United – Together We Stand’ competition organised by New York Art Competition in collaboration with Agora Art Gallery, and sixth place in the American Art Awards in the category of Impressionism-Human, besides many other accolades.
She has also showcased her works at the Plein Air Russian Atlantis event in St. Petersburg and the Eurasia Busan International Art Fair 2025 in South Korea. Her paintings are held in the collections of Adil Hussain, Pheroza Godrej, Deepika Jindal, and the US Embassy consulate, among others.
