About the Artist

Rekha was born in 1947. From her father, a civil engineer, she inherited a deep love for nature, art and architecture and from her mother, a doctor, she received all the encouragement a young one needs to pursue a passion. With five other siblings, she grew up in the small town of Alwar, Rajasthan, amidst picnics to ruins, tigers in the wild, open country spaces, freedom and of course – colours! It was indeed a happy childhood that increasingly finds expression in her work.

Striking blue Peacock in front of stylised pale yellow and brown coloured rural dwellings
Pastoral Allure; Oil Pastels on Paper; 2001

To take her interest in art forward, she went to Udaipur to do her post-graduation in Fine Arts at M.B. College, Udaipur University (now called Sukhadia Univerity). After gaining a Master’s degree, she also taught Art there from 1968 to 1970. In those two wondrous years, Rekha wandered like a free spirit, cycling around the City of Lakes, with a landscape board, sketchbook, pencil and paints. She feels grateful to have been in the company of some of the finest teachers of art in the country and a student fraternity which was extremely art conscious, eager to learn and experiment.

Old photograph of a painting class in progress near a stepwell entrance in Bundi, Rajasthan
Above: On-the-spot landscape painting class, Bundi; 1968

In 1970, Rekha returned to her home town of Jaipur and joined Kanoria Girls College as a Lecturer in Fine Arts. While teaching at Kanoria, she undertook a long drawn research for doctoral thesis on “Folk Art of Udaipur Region”, which saw her travelling to remote regions of Rajasthan and collecting samples of folk imagery. The intensity of her research left an indelible impression, which even today makes its subtle appearance in her compositions and inspired her to write the book Dhulichitra.

Old, sepia-toned photograph of Rekha Bhatnagar resting at Chota Talaab, Bundi, 1968
Above: The artist at Bundi (Rajasthan, India); 1968

Rekha acknowledges her gratitude to late Shri P.N. Choyal and late Shri O.D. Upadhyay, artists of immeasurable repute, who taught her at M.B. College and whose guidance left a strong impression on her early style and continues to inspire her even today. Works of KK Hebbar, Paul Klee and Henri Matisse also influenced her and filled her with a zest for experimentation.

Photograph of Rekha Bhatnagar beside her paintings at Rajputana Palace Sheraton, Jaipur
Above: Rekha at her solo show in Jaipur; 2001

It isn’t surprising that she has a fancy for texture and intensity of colors, which she likes to achieve in two-dimensional compositions. In a career spanning over five decades, Rekha indulged in a multitude of medias including watercolour, tempera, oil pastels, mixed media and charcoal. Not very fond of figures, she uses them sparingly in her artworks. Stylistically she has gradually moved away from realism, towards increasing abstraction, as Life itself seems to be..

Photograph of Rekha giving a talk to an audience in an art gallery
Above: Giving a talk on 'Folk Art of Rajasthan' at University of Guelph, Canada; 1997

Despite fulfilling multiple responsibilities including those of mentor, homemaker and grandmother, Rekha continues to pursue her passion for art and culture. She loves to travel, attend art shows and talks, give presentations on art and is often seen engrossed in front of a canvas in her studio in Jaipur.