Important Notice

FORMERLY IN THE COLLECTION OF DR. JAYSHREE BARUA

Dr. Jayshree Barua (d. 2013), remembered for her long and distinguished medical career in Mumbai, served as Tyeb Mehta’s ophthalmologist through his final years. As Tyeb’s eyesight began to fail towards the end of his life, this work—part of the Falling Bird series he was working on at the time—became a profoundly personal and poignant gift to Dr. Barua. This meaningful gesture marked a... FORMERLY IN THE COLLECTION OF DR. JAYSHREE BARUA

Dr. Jayshree Barua (d. 2013), remembered for her long and distinguished medical career in Mumbai, served as Tyeb Mehta’s ophthalmologist through his final years. As Tyeb’s eyesight began to fail towards the end of his life, this work—part of the Falling Bird series he was working on at the time—became a profoundly personal and poignant gift to Dr. Barua. This meaningful gesture marked a professional association which had evolved into a warm bond. The present drawing is believed to be among the later expressions of the Falling Bird motif. The image of the falling bird carried a powerful resonance as the artist confronted the loss of the faculty that shaped his world.

Dr. Barua married into the distinguished Barua family, which has been steeped in the cultural and artistic churn of India for many generations. The family’s connections extend from Santiniketan— where her parents?in?law Abhijit “Jolly” Barua and Chitra Barua trained in the 1940s—to the vibrant post?Independence creative circles of Mumbai. Her father?in?law, Abhijit Barua, studied in London before returning to India to establish the design studio Unit ’61, later collaborating with Charles Correa on a number of landmark national projects including Gandhi Darshan and the Nehru Museum in Delhi, the Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat, and several India Pavilions for major international expositions. His work forms a vital part of the visual vocabulary of post?Independence India.

The Barua family’s artistic influence extended further through Chitra Barua—an accomplished Rabindra Sangeet singer whose recordings were broadcast on All India Radio—and through her brother, the noted designer Riten Mozumdar, celebrated for his textiles, murals, and his foundational contribution to the early identity of Fabindia. Mozumdar’s works, exhibited widely including at Chatterjee & Lal, place him among the most innovative designers of mid?century India.

Dr. Jayshree Barua’s association with Tyeb Mehta gains further depth set within this exceptional creative ecosystem. Their relationship was not merely professional, it formed part of a broader cultural environment in which art, design, music, and modern Indian thought intermingled with everyday life. Works gifted by the artist to Dr. Barua thus carry the dual significance of direct personal provenance and an embeddedness in one of India’s notable creative families.

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