The Village Maharajah
I call this man “The Maharajah” but he is a goatherd in a tiny village in Gujarat, India.
We were visiting his village as he was bringing his animals home. When he got to his house, he herded the goats into his little corral made of woven branches. Then he stood by the gate waiting for us to take his photo. He didn’t pose but he would turn toward us when we raised our cameras.
He was short for a Rabari, about 5’5”. And he was thin! You can see how narrow his shoulders are. When you compare his shoulders to the size of his head, with turban, you get the feeling of a naïve painting where proportions are not important.
His eyes dominate his face. They are magnificent, beaming from under those amazing eyebrows. And then his cheekbones, and his mustache, more magnificence. I love looking at this man. He looks proud and haughty yet approachable.
The green/red thing behind him is a folk art addition of my own. There was a piece of fabric hanging on the corral fence and I turned it into a banner with many, many clicks of the clone tool and embellished the red flower things with the paintbrush.
I could go on and on about this portrait, but the best is if you look at it yourself.