Kripal Singh Shekhawat was a renowned craftsman of India. He was famous for his skills in Blue Pottery and is credited for the revival of that art in India. He died on February 15, 2008 in Jaipur.
Born in the western Indian state of Rajasthan in 1922, he studied original painting at the Shanti Niketan in West Bengal and later did a diploma in Oriental Arts from the Tokyo University, Japan.
He was also the director of Sawai Ram Singh Shilpa Kala Mandir at Jaipur where he taught Indian painting and Blue Pottery.
He was conferred the Padma Shri in 1974 and was also honoured with the title Shilp Guru by the Government of India in 2002. Unknown to many, Kripal Singh is renowned for his illustrations in the original document of the Constitution of India.
A distinguished traditional artist, Kripal Singh's paintings are poetic. They carry the expression of the traditional and early styles of painting with bold innovations in a delicate and refined manner. His works also claim an important historical place in the organic evolution of traditional paintings. There is no one who can create his style of painting with great detail he has shown the birds, clothes, animals flowers which shows the dedication with he creats a real painting.
He also revived the art of blue pottery which had become dead. He made many changes with the designs. It was due to his hard work that the blue pottery has reached the pinnacle. There are many people who try to mislead the tourists by telling them that they are the family of Mr. Kripal Singh Shekhawat. During Mr. Shekhawat's time, they used to say that he is dead! Some even used to make a person wear dhoti kurta, shawl favoured by Mr. Shekhawat and say that this man is him. Now since he is no more, they say that Kripal Kumbh is closed, but it is not so. It is still run by his wife Shrimati Sajjan Kanwar assisted by his three daughters namely Ms. Minakshi Rathore, Ms. Himani Rathore and Ms. Kumud Rathore.