History and Origin of Gond Painting

In the 1980s, J Swaminathan was the director of the Bharat Bhavan Museum in Bhopal.

He wanted to exhibit urban and tribal art together. For this purpose, he sent some of his students to various villages in Dindori district in search of various tribal Gond artists.

There they found very talented young men and women. One of them was Jangarh Singh Shyam, an exceptionally talented painter.

The walls of his house were proof of his magnificent artwork and he was equally excited to come to Bhopal and try new mediums of painting.

Jangarh Singh Shyam
Shri Jangarh Singh Shyam was the first tribal artist to use canvas and paper for his artwork.

Jangarh Singh Shyam was a Pardhan Gond artist of the village Patangarh in Dindori district in Madhya Pradesh.

The Gond tribe is one of the largest tribal communities in India. These tribals live in Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh. The main occupation of the Gond tribe is agriculture or daily wages.

The word Gond comes from ‘Kond’ which means green mountains and tribal people are called Gondis as they live mainly in the lush green mountains of Madhya Pradesh