Jivya Soma Mashe

This book is the first to be devoted entirely to the artwork of Jivya Soma Mashe (1934–2018). This legendary figure of the Warli tribe (Maharashtra, India) was one of those artists – or authors, as Dubuffet would have said – like Bill Traylor or Frédéric Bruly-Bouabré, who open our eyes to the richness and diversity of our cultures.

Abandoned by his family at a young age, Jivya Soma Mashe took refuge in drawing and embraced the pictorial traditions of his community, later going on to develop a personal style that would earn him the admiration first of his loved ones, then that of regional, national and international authorities.

His work earned him a National Award, presented by Indira Gandhi in 1976. Jivya Soma Mashe’s paintings were exhibited for the first time at Mumbai’s historic Chemould Gallery in 1975. A number of them feature in the famous catalogue of the Centre Pompidou’s Magiciens de la terre exhibition in 1989, while others were shown in the Fondation Cartier’s thirtieth anniversary exhibition in 2014. Some of his large paintings will be on display in the inaugural exhibition at the Fondation Cartier’s new premises, opposite the Louvre Museum.