| Medium | : | Watercolour |
|---|---|---|
| Surface | : | Paper |
| Height | : | 14 inch / 35.6 cm |
| Width | : | 22 inch / 55.9 cm |
| Style | : | Animals paintings, Figurative Paintings |
| Dimension | : | W: 55.9 cm × H: 35.6 cm |
A charming watercolor painting featuring a crowned female figure alongside an ornately patterned cockerel, set against a warm earthy background. Inspired by folk art and mythology, the artwork combines delicate detailing, symbolic imagery, and gentle storytelling to create a timeless composition filled with elegance, imagination, and quiet wonder.
Badri Narayan | The Cockerel | Watercolor on Paper | 22 x 14 inches
This enchanting watercolor artwork presents a dreamlike encounter between a regal woman and a beautifully adorned cockerel, rendered in a style that blends folk traditions, mythology, and poetic imagination. Set against a warm terracotta background, the composition radiates a sense of quiet storytelling, where every element seems to carry symbolic meaning.
The woman, crowned with a golden headdress and adorned with a simple pearl necklace, gazes outward with calm confidence and timeless grace. Beside her stands the cockerel, intricately detailed with patterned feathers and decorative motifs, transforming an everyday creature into a magical companion. The artist’s delicate linework, muted palette, and flattened forms create a visual language that feels both ancient and contemporary.
Rather than depicting a literal scene, the artwork invites viewers into a world of folklore and fantasy, where humans, animals, and nature coexist in harmony. The gentle balance between elegance, innocence, and symbolism gives the painting a captivating charm, making it a wonderful piece for collectors who appreciate narrative art and imaginative expression.
Perfect for living spaces, studies, galleries, or curated collections, this work brings warmth, character, and a sense of wonder to any environment.
Born on 22 July 1929 in Secunderabad (now in Telangana), Badri Narayan began his career in the late 1940s working with ceramic tiles and mosaics, and moved later to using ink, pastel and watercolour as his primary mediums.
Coming of age around Independence, Narayan — painter, writer, storyteller and art teacher — interpreted ancient and medieval traditions through his paintings, illustrations, stories, and workshops.
A self-taught artist, Narayan’s distinctive pictorial vocabulary drew from medieval woodcuts, Byzantine portraiture, Ajanta murals and Pahari miniatures. Working in a space between the literary and the visual, the artist’s primary vehicle remained the narrative. Many of his pictorial protagonists, allegories and situations stemmed from the realm of Indic myths and folklore. In two-dimensional stylised representations, often with recurring symbolism, the artist’s simple outlines conveyed artistic intent in series such as Savitri, Chandi Thakur and the Rani, Six-Tusked Elephant, and Boat.
Beginning with his first exhibition in 1949, Narayan was part of over fifty national and international shows and his works are in several permanent collections, including the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, and the South Asian collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. A prolific writer, Narayan also wrote short stories, verse and tales for children on subjects such as art, folklore and mythology. He also illustrated several books. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1987, and the Maharashtra Gaurav Puruskar in 1990.
Narayan passed away in Bengaluru on 23 September 2013.
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