Jayashree Chakravarty was born in Khoai in Tripura in 1956, but grew up in a developing suburb of Kolkata. Witnessing the lush green landscape of her childhood give way to a grey mass of concrete would later influence her work, which often addresses old and new cityscapes. Describing her work as autobiographical and dreamlike, Chakravarty crafts her own unique idiom to express ideas of truth, nature, and unity. She often experiments with organic materials, paper, rice paper, tissue, and cellophane creating fluid and transparent images that lend themselves to multiple interpretations.

The artist completed her bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from the Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, in 1978, and received a postgraduate diploma from M S University, Vadodara, in 1980. In 1993, she migrated to France, where she worked as an artist in residence in Aix-en-Provence for two years, where she came across and was influenced by the French art movement Supports/Surfaces, and the work of painter Claude Viallat.

In her works, Chakravarty uses superimposed forms, similar to sketches that cave painters worked on before they mapped them on the walls of caves. She believes that relating to human beings of a distant country and a different culture expanded the horizons of her imagination, and forced certain pre-conceived images to change. Chakravarty’s ink on paper sketches are an exercise in transforming personal experience into mystical truth.

Chakravarty has exhibited her work at museums and galleries across the world. Her works also form a part of the permanent collection at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi and the Chandigarh Museum. Chakravarty lives and works in Kolkata

Education
1971-72 Painting and Printmaking, Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda.(On a Lalit Kala Academy Fellowship from Andhra Pradesh)
1965-70 Diploma in Painting, College of Fine Arts and Architecture, Hyderabad

Exhibitions
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2015 'The Telangana Icons', presented by Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi at Grosvenor Gallery, London
2011 'Memoire du passé 1979-1999', Latitude 28, New Delhi
2011 'Metamorphosis: The Changing World of Thota Vaikuntam', Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi
2009-10 'Saffron.Vermilion.Turmeric', Indigo Blue Art, Singapore
2007 ‘Yes, I am He’, organized by India Fine Art, India Fine Art, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
2007 ‘Telangana: Inheritance of a Dream Lost’, Art Alive, New Delhi
2006 ‘Mukham’, Sanskriti Art Gallery, Kolkata
2005 ‘Telangana Men and Women’, Arts India, California
2005 ‘Naupu Telupu’, India Fine Art, Mumbai
2005 ‘Retrospective Show’, Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi, London
2004 Kuhu Art Gallery, London
2003 ‘Larger Than Life – Vaikuntam’s Women’, Arts India, New York and The Guild, Mumbai
2003 ‘Portraits’, Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai
2001 ‘Memories of Telangana’, Sama, New Delhi
2000 ‘Mother’, Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai
1999 Gallery 678, New York
1998 ‘My Telangana Images’, Mumbai
1998 ‘Vision and Response’, Renaissance, Bangalore
1996 Surya Gallery, Hyderabad
1996 The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai
1995-97 New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad
1994-95 Crimson Gallery, Bangalore
1994-95 I.T.C . Welcome Group, Hyderabad
1994 Surya Gallery, Hyderabad and Gallerie 88, Kolkata
1992 Gallery Kufa, London
1992 Kessel, Chennai and Mumbai
1991 Gallery Espace, New Delhi
1990 Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai
1988-89 Max Mueller Bhavan, Hyderabad and Grindlays Bank Gallery, Chennai
1985 Show of Drawings, Kala Bhavan, Hyderabad
1982-83 Hyderabad Art Society, Hyderabad
1980 Exhibition of Charcoal Drawings on Mother Series, Kala Bhavan, Hyderabad
1978 Exhibition of Ink and Wash drawings, Kala Bhavan, Hyderabad
1978 Exhibition of Prints, Alliance Francaise, Bangalore
1975-77 Ink Drawings, Kala Bhavan, Hyderabad
1974 One-Man Show of Small Drawings, Hyderabad Art Society, Hyderabad
1972-73 Kala Bhavan, Hyderabad


Selected Group Exhibitions
2011 'Adbhutam: Rasa in Indian Art', Centre of International Modern Art(CIMA), Kolkata
2011 'Aureus 2011', Gallerie Nvya, New Delhi
2010-11 'Figure/Landscape: Part Two', Aicon Gallery, London
2010 'Figure/Landscape: Part One', Aicon Gallery, New York
2010 'The Living Insignia', Gallery Ensign, New Delhi
2010 'Modern Folk: The Folk Art Roots of the Modernist Avant-Garde', Aicon Gallery, New York
2010 'Black is Beautiful', India Fine Art, Mumbai
2009 'Entity', in association with Asian Academy of Film & Television at M.E.C. Art Gallery, New Delhi
2009 'The Root of Everything', Gallery Mementos, Bangalore
2009 Gallery Space, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
2008 'Stellar Configuration', presented by Vinnyasa Premier Art Gallery, Chennai at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
2008 'Post Independence Masters', Aicon Gallery, New York
2008 ‘Freedom 2008 : Sixty Years After Indian Independence’, Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata
2008 ‘Pravah’, Art Pilgrim, New Delhi
2007 ‘Serigraphs’, Presented by Archer Graphic Studio at Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai
2007 'Rising Of The Phoneix: A Tribute To Livelihood', Hasta Gallery, Hyderabad
2007 'Self and the Selfless', Hasta Gallery, Hyderabad
2007 ‘The Workshop’, India Fine Art, Mumbai
2006 'Drawing Show an Act of Art II', Priyasri Art Gallery, Mumbai
2006 Opening Show, India Fine Art, Mumbai
2006 ‘6 Artists Show’, 1 x 1 Gallery, Dubai
2006 Opening Show, Arts Pilgrim, London
2005 ‘Evoking Rasa in Luminous Visions - Indian Art’, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA
2005 ‘Divine Inspiration’, India Fine Art, Mumbai
2004 ‘Confluence’, Arts India, California
2003 ‘Faces’, Art Alive, New Delhi
2003 Kuhu Art Gallery, London
2003 ‘Hyderabad with Love’, India Fine Art, Hyderabad, Mumbai
2002 ‘Tradition and Change’, Arts India, New York
2001 ‘A Panorama of Indian Contemporary Art’, Art Circle, The Guild
2000 ‘Dubai / Creative 2000
2000 Menaz Art Gallery
2000 Faces Design Art, Dubai
2000 ‘Ignition’, Crimson Art Gallery, Mumbai
2000 ‘Mask’, Dhoomimal Art Gallery, New Delhi
1999 Sans Tache, Mumbai
1999 Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Mumbai
1999 Gallery Ganesha, New Delhi
1998 Group Show in Singapore
1998 Threshold, Vishakapatnam
1998 ‘Tempera’, Art Today, New Delhi
1998 Gallery Ganesha, New Delhi
1998 Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Mumbai
1997 Gallery Ganesha, New Delhi
1996 ‘Chamatkara – Myth and Magic in Indian Art’, Whitley’s Art Gallery, London
1995 Art for CRY, Mumbai
1995 Gallery Ganesha, New Delhi
1995 Gallerie 88, Kolkata
1995 Autumn Exhibition, All India Fine Art and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi
1995 Surya Gallery, Hyderabad
1995 ‘Woman’, organized by The Gallery, Singapore, Hong Kong
1994-95 ‘Contemporary Miniatures’, Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA) Gallery, Kolkata
1994 ‘Art in Miniature Form’, Renaissance, Bangalore
1994 Gallery Ganesha, New Delhi
1994 ‘India Encounter II’, Lee Arthur Studio, New York
1993 Anniversary Exhibition, Gallery 88, Kolkata
1993 Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata
1993 Summer Show, The Gallery, Chennai
1993 Birla Academy of Art and Culture Silver Jubilee Exhibition, Mumbai
1993 ‘Wide Angle’, Sarla Art Centre, Bangalore
1992 Sansriti Art Gallery, Kolkata
1992 Summer Show, Hyderabad
1992 Help Age India, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1992 Art Encounter, Kessel
1992 Gallerie 88, Bangalore
1992 Shraddha Saharpan, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1991 ‘Images of Rural India’, Max Mueller Bhavan, Hyderabad
1991 ‘The Collectors Choice’, Society for Promotion of Art, Hyderabad
1991 Gallery Espace, New Delhi
1990 ‘Five Artists’, L. V. Prasad Eye Institute and CCMB Science Institute, Hyderabad
1990 Sarla Art Gallery, Bangalore
1990 The Gallery, Chennai
1988-89 Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad
1989 Max Mueller Bhavan, Hyderabad


Participations
2014 'Ode to Monumental: Celebration, Visuality, Ideology', presented by Saffronart at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi and Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
2013-14 'Transition', 20th Anniversary Show, Centre of International Modern Art(CIMA), Kolkata
2011 'Ethos V: Indian Art Through the Lens of History (1900 to 1980), Indigo Blue Art, Singapore
2010 'Master’s Corner', organized by Indian Contemporary Art Journal at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai; India International Art Fair, New Delhi
2010 'Contemporary Printmaking In India', presented by Priyasri Art Gallery, Mumbai at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai; Priyasri Art Gallery, Mumbai
2010 'Summer Show 2010', Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata
2009 'Entity', Annual Exhibition, M.E.C Art Gallery, New Delhi
2007 17th Anniversary Show, Gallery Sanskriti, Kolkata
2007 ‘Summer Show 2007’, Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata
2006 ‘CIMA Annual 2006’, Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata
1995 6th Anniversary Exhibition, Gallery Ganesha, New Delhi
1994 1st Anniversary Exhibition, Surya Gallery, Hyderabad
1991 7th Triennale, India
1988-89 Biennale, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal

Honours and Awards1993 National Award For Painting
1988-89 Biennale Award, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal
1988-89 National Award for Art Direction of Film ‘Daasi’
1985 Award from Hyderabad Art Society, Andhra Pradesh Lalit Kala Academy
1982-83 Award from Hyderabad Art Society, Andhra Pradesh Lalit Kala Academy
1979 ‘Mahakoshal Kala Samithi’, Madhya Pradesh
1979 Award from Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata
1979 Award from Chitra Kala Parishad, Bangalore
1975-77 Second Award from Hyderabad Art Society, Andhra Pradesh Lalit Kala Academy

Jayashree Chakravarty saturates her paintings with multiple layers of meaning, both physically, through her thick, layered application of paint, and emotionally, through the several levels of associations that each element on the surface holds for her. The artist, however, does not allow easy access to these layers. Her paintings are a mystery, silent witnesses to her cathartic practice.

Jayshree Chakravarty was educated at Santiniketan and she graduated in Fine Arts from the Viswa Bharati University, Santiniketan, in 1978 and obtained a post-graduate diploma from M.S.University, Baroda, in 1980. She received a Canadian grant in 1982 to study art. She later migrated to France and married a French flautist. Chakravarty says, 'My paintings are like a personal diary of my days in France and the influences.'

She has developed her own personal style, drawing on inspiration from the French impressionists and Byzantine mosaic design. The artist says that her paintings are mostly autobiographical. "I have been able to reach out to those who have little to do with my personal life," she points out, "and make them identify with my deeply felt imagery." Chakravarty's ink on paper sketches is an exercise in transition and transforming personal experience into mystical truth. She positions herself in the image of a spontaneous, instinctive woman who is a muse and eternal child rolled into one. Chakravarty says that her paintings, either ink on paper or oils, have the feel of a dream about them. She believes that relating to human beings of a distant country and a different culture has expanded the horizons of her imagination and forced certain pre-conceived images to change.

In her works, she uses superimposed forms, quite like the sketches that cave painters worked on before they mapped them on the walls of caves. Her imagery, because of her fluid and transparent images, reflect the present mood of the world, which is fluid in itself. At a mere conventional and figurative level, her works reflect the unity of man with nature. Some motifs constantly recur in her paintings dogs, waves and serried crescent shapes. Influenced by post-modernist painters, each of her canvas seems to embrace the entire gamut of colors that range from blues to even purple.

Chakravarty has exhibited across India and Sweden and her works can be see in the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi and in Chandigarh Museum. She won an award in 1988 in the II Bharat Bhavan Bienniale Bhopal.

She lives and works out of Paris.

"…it is Chakravarty's use of color, her obsessive engagement with acts of application, scraping, texturing, with acts of close pattern-making and saturation, that conveys the sense of urgency animating her exploration of sensorial and extra-sensorial experiences. Chakravarty layers disparate worlds together with great panache - the pigmental, the textural, the personal historical, and the imagistic registers are orchestrated together in a magical network that creates a telling language of associations" (Abhay Sardesai, "Mapping Consciousness, Translating Worlds", Where the Sand Meets the Sky, Bodhi Art exhibition catalogue, 2007, p. 6).

Each of Chakravarty's large, layered works on canvas, is a "…palimpsest, one improvisation partially obscuring another but leaving hints of each successive layer behind. The glittering surface is also reminiscent of a mosaic: as if in the flickering glow of candle light, explosions of light illuminate a tessellated surface. As in mosaic, the evocation of the ineffable is also embedded in Jayashree's densely- wrought, yet strangely fugitive painterly surface. The imagery floats, existing independent of the signs, textures and colours which accrete to them, like barnacles on the skin of a cetacean" (Michael Anderson, "The Shadow of Idea", In the Very Face of Time, Galerie 88 exhibition catalogue, 2006, not paginated).