Haku Shah Biography 
Haku Shah is an artist, painter, writer and Gandhian who hails from Gujarat. His full name is Haku Vajubhai Shah. As an artist he is best known for his contributions towards tribal art and folk culture. He has authored several internationally recognized books on folk and tribal art and culture. For his overall contributions towards the field of Indian art and culture, government of India honoured him with Padma Shri in 1989. He is also a recipient of Jawarharlal Nehru Fellowship and the Kala Ratna.
Haku Vajubhai Shah was born on 26 March 1934 in Valod, Gujarat. He completed his art studies from Maharaja Sayajirao University. As an artist his works caught public attention since mid-1960s. He held his first solo exhibition in Ashok Gallery, Kolkata in 1961 and conducted another exhibition in the same gallery the following year. He conducted exhibitions at Jehangir Art Gallery in 1963 and 1964. Since 1965 he held several solo exhibitions and shows at Kolkata and Mumbai. Sanskar Kendra Ahmedabad, Vikram Art Gallery Madras, Cymroza Gallery Mumbai etc are some of the art galleries where he exhibited his works frequently over the years. As an art curator his first work was 'Unknown India', organized by Art Critic Stella Kramrisch at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
He received the Rockefeller Grant and also Nehru Fellowship Award. He continued with his extensive researches on rural art, folk culture, tribal art etc and started documenting his research findings as well. Traditions, folk lore, tribal arts and crafts etc are some of the areas which he mostly dealt with. He has also done a couple of documentary films and published several books for children.
Published: January 22, 2019
Updated: January 22, 2019
