Prafulla Mohanti
b.1936
Floral Theme
1962
Watercolour on paper
Collection of The Hepworth Wakefield
Floral Theme was purchased for the Wakefield permanent art collection in the early 1960s when then-director of Wakefield City Art Gallery, Ronald W. Gelsthorpe, visited Mohanti’s studio. Impressed by his work, Gelsthorpe subsequently included Mohanti in Modern Art in Yorkshire 1964, an exhibition showcasing the work of ten local artists.
Around the same time, the Commonwealth Immigrants Act of 1962 was introduced. It imposed strict immigration controls on citizens of Commonwealth countries, who were previously allowed to migrate freely to the United Kingdom. Mohanti is against imposing borders on artistic experience, stating that ‘art is universal and artists belong to the world, not to any particular geographical limitation.’
