Madhuri Guin (born June 6, 1952) is a cloth doll artist based in New Delhi, India.
Madhuri was born in Hooghly, near Kolkata, India and completed her education from Jamshedpur (then in Bihar, now in Jharkhand, India) and Rourkela, in Orissa, India. Interested in fine art right from childhood, she took up doll making at the age of 21 in 1973, when she felt inspired by the Shankar's International Doll's Museum in New Delhi, India.
Without any formal training in doll making or any other form of fine art, she began making simple cloth dolls with porcelain heads. Far from being perfect, they were the medium through which Madhuri taught herself and refined her doll making skills, to finally evolve a form unique to her.
Unlike most other cloth dolls made elsewhere in India, Madhuri's dolls are made to be more realistic. This is brought out by her unique doll making style. She makes the face for the doll out of cloth, and uses precise cloth patterns for limbs, fingers and the torso of the doll. These cloth patterns are sewed, stuffed with cotton and are provided with an iron wire frame. The fingers are sewed to the limbs, which then are sewed to the torso. The body is then provided accurate shapes, based on the kind of doll being made. The accuracy in gestures of the hand and body is provided because of the accurate cloth patterns used for the doll body parts and the special way the wire frame is assembled. However, the most striking feature of the doll remains the face of the doll.
The face is created using a unique process she has developed for herself. A piece of cloth of the same color being used for the body is taken along with a strechable cloth piece underneath it. Glue is applied to the outer side of the stretchable piece of cloth and the two pieces are together stuck on to a porcelain face. Once the glue dries, the two pieces of cloth get stuck to each other and is then slid off the porcelain face and a semi-hardened cloth face comes off with features similar to the porcelain face being used. Madhuri then painstakingly paints the eyes and lips on the cloth face. It is here that her fine skills come out the best. She is able to portray accurately the facial expressions of an Indian dancer, so very necessary to make realistic dolls portraying Indian dancers.
The face is then sewed on to the rest of the body, following which she sews appropriate clothing and jewelry on to the doll. Almost everything used on Madhuri's dolls is sewed or made by Madhuri herself, which is probably why her dolls have a flavor not available elsewhere. Her dolls depict Indian classical dances, Indian folk dances, Hindu Gods and Goddesses and costumes from India as well as other nations.
Awards and Exhibitions
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In 1987, Madhuri was awarded the prestigious Delhi State Award for Master Craftsmen, instituted by the Department of Industries, Delhi Administration. She was given this award based on her work on a doll depicting Bharatanatyam Dancer, in the pose of Radha waiting for Krishna.
The Dolls Museum in Rourkela (established in 1982) exhibits a large number of dolls made by Madhuri. She has given exhibitions of her dolls in various places:
- 1987, YWCA in New Delhi, India
- 1980, Calcutta Information Center in Kolkata, West Bengal
- 1977, Birmitrapur, Orissa
- 1976, German Club in Rourkela, OdishaOrissa
External links
edit- Shankar's International Doll's Museum
- Dolls made by Madhuri Guin - an online gallery-cum-store being run by Madhuri Guin herself