Description
Les Bastars
Bastar is a district of South India in the state of Chattisgarh, it was an independent kingdom from the 14
th century until its integration into India in 1948.
The tribal population represents 70% of the population of the Bastar district: the main tribes are the Gonds - the Abhuj Maria and the Bhatras. Most have kept their tradition (culinary art, dress, parties ...) and their animist religion.
The tribes still live mainly from agriculture and resources drawn from the forest (hunting, medicinal plants, wood ...).
Some tribes have dedicated themselves to
brass statues art for over 4000 years. This art, which is also found in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar ... is called Dokra.
Dokra art: a thousand-year-old knowledge in the manufacture of statues
This tribal Indian art has not changed for millennia (more than 4000 years) and the technique used is always that of lost wax: a coarse clay model is made and then covered with wax by the artist who will give it its final form with its details. The whole is again covered with a clay mixture and then heated in an open hearth where a copper alloy will be poured. see Blog
Objects produced by Dokra artists can be of a usual nature: cup, candle holder ... musical instruments (brass), or artistic such as jewelry, animals: horses, elephants, turtles ..., statues of men and women representing scenes of daily life and Hindu deities adopted by the tribes: Ganesh, Lakshmi, ...
Bust Head of a woman adorned with a festive headdress with a large feather, on the left side. The ears, represented by a simple S, are embellished with magnificent earrings oriented towards the sky.
The hair is depicted perfectly combed, pulled back with a typical tribal bun hairstyle. The facial features are delicate, reduced to their simplest expression without superfluous details. The bridge of the nose is long, the chin almost absent, the eyebrows are non-existent. The arches are very marked and are reinforced by the presence of a frontal band. Many necklaces adorn her slender neck.
The expression on this woman's face seems impassive, beyond time.
Note: among the Bastar, this statuette is always accompanied by the male bust adorned with horns.