Born in 1934 in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, Jyoti Bhatt studied painting and printmaking at M. S. University in Baroda. He is an Indian artist best known for his modernist work in painting and printmaking. He studied painting under N. S. Bendre and K.G. Subramanyan at the Faculty of Fine Arts. In the early 1960s he went on to study at the Academia di Belle Arti in Naples, Italy, as well the Pratt Institute in New York. Though Bhatt worked in a variety of mediums, including watercolors and oils, it is his printmaking that ultimately garnered him the most attention. His etchings, intaglios, and screen prints have explored and re-explored a personal language of symbols that stem from Indian culture: the peacock, the parrot, the lotus, stylized Indian gods and goddesses, and unending variations on tribal and village designs.
His work is in numerous international collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. and The British Museum, London. A founding member of the Baroda Group of Artists, he also joined the artistic initiative, Group 1890. A recipient of national and international awards, Bhatt continues to experiment, innovating styles and techniques. He lives and works in Baroda. Bhatt was honored with the Padma Shri in 2019.