
Ritual Floor Diagram (aripan)
Black ink and red and ochre watercolor on ivory wove paper
76.2 × 55.9 cm (30 × 22 in.)
Art Institute of Chicago

Chano Devi was an Indian painter whose work synthesized figuration and abstraction through a layered approach to color and form. Working primarily in oils and acrylics, she developed a distinctive vocabulary of fragmented human and animal forms set against densely built pictorial fields. Her paintings navigate the intersection of personal mythology and collective memory, refusing easy narrative closure. Devi's practice remained independent of major institutional circuits, her work circulating principally through artist networks and small galleries in Delhi and Mumbai.
Source: Aic · Trust score: 50% · Updated 1mo ago