A Hemangini Bordoloi work on display at an exhibition in the State Art Gallery. Picture by Eastern Projections

June 20: In life, it was the premier art club which exhibited her paintings once and only once. So in death, she entrusted her works to the Guwahati Artists’ Guild.

Branded a rebel in the male-dominated world of arts, Hemangini Bordoloi, an alumnus of Shantiniketan, became an icon during her lifetime.

“We are grateful that she considered us good enough to take care of her lifelong creations. The artworks of Bordoloi baidew (elder sister) are real gems, which should be preserved. Before her death on June 5, she had expressed her wishes to donate all her paintings to us,” painter and Guild member, Jnanendra Barkakati, said.

Bordoloi, one of the most celebrated artists of the region, was from Madhyam Khanda in north Guwahati. The recipient of Silpi Pension and Kalaguru Bishnu Prasad Rabha award had been battling old-age related ailments for the past few months.

Along with preservation and restoration of all her paintings, the Guild will also run Asom Charu Aru Karu Silpa Kala Kendra founded by her in north Guwahati.

Born on April 13, 1925 in Dibrugarh, she had her early education in Jorhat and Dibrugarh. She passed her matriculation quite late in her career and studied for sometime in North Guwahati College.

She went to Shantiniketan in 1957 and returned with diploma in fine arts and sculpture three years later. Her Paintings, mostly depicting the landscape and people of the state, were exhibited in Germany and Japan, which made her famous worldwide.

“Her works are marks of simplicity. She was an expert in her field and her paintings reflect that. Soft-natured, she was like a friend, philosopher and guide to the younger generation,” Lutfa Akhtar, a city-based artist, said. “She was the first Assamese woman artist who expressed herself through poignant depiction of lives and places through her paintings.”

She was married to late Upendra Nath Bordoloi when she was only 12.

Tragedy struck her when her husband died when she was in the prime of her life. The couple did not have any children.

But for the Guwahati Artists’ Guild, veteran artist Hemangini Bordoloi would have been long forgotten by the city’s art connoisseurs.

Her paintings were for the first time exhibited in the city last year.

“Besides being a great artist, Bordoloi baidew was a great human being. She epitomised love and affection. I salute her for her what she had done for society,” veteran artist Neelpawan Baruah said.

Baruah felt social pressure dissuaded her from taking up art as a full-time career. “People then used to think that earning erudite degrees was more prestigious than becoming an artist,” she once said.