Born and raised in Valod, Gujarat, he absorbed the rhythms of rural life, which influenced his artistic and academic pursuits. He spent the 1950s under the tutelage of KG Subramanyan, NS Bendre and Sankho Chaudhuri, at M.S. University, Baroda imbibing a visual pedagogy that is uniquely positioned in South Asia’s art history - one that is both confident and inclusive.
Hakubhai, as he was fondly known, painted with a formal simplicity, often depicting figures and symbols that are imbued with a deep sense of humanism. Layered in meaning and subject matter - Shah would often work while listening to music, scratching the verses of Sufi and Bhakti poets into his paintings. This superimposition of verse and form was perhaps an attempt to capture his state of profound emotional elevation while immersed in the act of creation.
Haku Shah left an indelible impact on many who crossed paths with him. His friends and collaborators include Charles and Ray Eames, Pupul Jayakar, Eberhard Fischer, Charles Correa and Balkrishna Doshi to name a few. Kapila Vatsyayan wrote of him, “This self-effacing, slightly built artist, shy and reticent, carries within himself indomitable courage and a rare strength of conviction in all causes he believes in. For me, it has been a privilege to know him for decades.”.
Apart from being an artist, Shah is equally respected for his contributions to the fields of anthropology and design. As early as 1968, he co-curated the landmark exhibition Unknown India, with Stella Kramrisch, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, introducing India’s indigenous material culture to a global audience. An integral part of the National Institute of Design (NID) in its infancy, Haku Shah helped establish human-centred research as a core tenet of design pedagogy.
Shah received the Padma Shri in 1989, and two Rockefeller Grants in 1968 and 1975, along with several important awards and honours. His work continues to inspire a vision of creativity that is at once deeply personal and profoundly connected to our collective past.
