Horizontal painting of birds, fish, and snake
The Khovar style within Adivasi painting is completed during spring, which coincides with the marriage season. Using a black-and-white color scheme and depicting nature themes, Khovar-style works were traditionally used to decorate marriage chambers and in matrimonial ceremonies. The techniques have been passed down from mothers to daughters, and they are related to the comb-cut practices seen in ceramic decorations.
Khovar black-and-white comb-cut sgraffito on paper
Painting: 22 1/2 x 30 1/2 in. (57.2 x 77.5 cm)
Frame: 33 3/4 x 41 3/4 in. (85.7 x 106 cm)
Gift of Joseph E. Reid and Batya Friedman
2022.30.12
Provenance: The artist (Tribal Women Artists Cooperative, Hazaribagh, India); gifted and sold, via Bulu Iman (Founder, Tribal Women Artists Cooperative), to Joseph Reid (d. 2016), Winthrop, Washington, 2008; bequeathed to Batya Friedman, Seattle, Washington, 2016; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2022
Photo: Scott Leen
