Maya Burman

Maya Burman has inherited an artistic tradition, which is indeed awe inspiring. With renowned painters like Shakti Burman (father), Jayasri Burman (cousin) and Paresh Maity (brother-in-law) in her extended family, its little wonder that Maya took to art at a very young age. Though she has spent most of her life in France, Maya is considered to be an Indian Painter, that’s because she manages to incorporate in the quintessence of the Indian experience- the harmonious way of representing seemingly unrelated things.

Maya Burman’s Paintings

Her paintings recreate the dimensions of a tapestry; with myriad patterns and layered lines they manage to remind us also of the French art nouveau tradition. Interestingly the figures that she depicts are archetypes and not individuals, and she paints them in a clean decisive manner. This aspect of her painting is very much like Picasso’s.

Maya Burman’s Technique

Maya Burman's technique of Painting can be roughly described as a “meticulous step-by-step process of accumulation of marks”. A rough painting sketch is done first, then watercolors are applied and finally the finishing touches are given with a pen and blank ink. The precise nature of her technique can probably be attributed to, training as an architect.

Themes

Maya Burman is known to choose myriad themes but it is the man-woman equation that fascinates her the most. In most of her paintings elements of foliage and birds merge into each other and almost envelope the men and women all dreamily looking into the distance, sometimes also at each other.

The evocation of the child in Maya Burman

Maya Burman claims that she transports herself to a world of innocence when she paints. She says that-“ I find I must enter the fantasy world of children in order to paint.” The fantastical beings that populate her paintings are a product of her childlike imagination, but one cannot deny the allegorical significance of then either for like many Indian painters, Mayas imagination too seems to have been colored by the vibrant folklores that have enthralled Indian children for ages.