Avinash Chandra

1931

Is born in Simla on 28 August, is brought up in Simla and Delhi; his father manages Cecil Hotel in Civil Lines, Delhi.

1951

Holds his first solo show at Hotel Nedou’s, Srinagar.

1953

Presents his first solo show as a trained artist with Delhi Silpi Chakra, New Delhi.

1954

Joins the faculty of his alma mater, where he teaches until 1956; his students include Paramjit Singh, Arpita Singh and Gopi Gajwani. Wins the Lalit Kala Akademi prize for his painting, Trees; the painting is acquired by the National Gallery of Modern Art.

1955

Marries Prem Lata, a fellow student at Delhi Polytechnic and an artist.

1956

Moves to London to join his wife Prem Lata, where she is offered scholarship to study art. In subsequent years, he travels through Europe and America, eventually settling in London where the true flowering of his individual idiom begins. Palpable influence of Picasso and Paul Klee in his work; studies the techniques and language of Vincent van Gogh and Chaïm Soutine; finds inspiration in European city landscapes.

1957

Holds his first exhibition in London, at the Imperial Institute.

1960

The Guardian’s art critic George Butcher pronounces him ‘a new painter of great ability’ and attributes it to ‘the glowing sensuality of Chandra’s colour, and the symbolic sexual references inherent in the imagery of Hinduism’; in a later issue of the same paper, Eric Newton indicates that ‘Chandra’s nearest counterpart in Western art is to be found in the work of Paul Klee’.

1961

In an essay in Studio, former Indian Civil Services officer and art historian W. G. Archer hails the artist ‘as one of the most significant modern Indian artists since Independence’.

1962

Wins Prix Européen, Ostend, Belgium. Is featured in a BBC documentary, The Art of Avinash Chandra, part of its Monitor series, with narration by W. G. Archer.

1963

Exhibition in West Bristol. Travels to India.

1964

Becomes the first Indian artist to exhibit at Documenta in Kassel, West Germany. Is commissioned a glass mural for the new building of glass manufacturers Pilkington Brothers, designed by Maxwell Fry, featuring 15 other artists. Chandra’s mural measures 37 ft by 9 ft.

1965

Is awarded the John D. Rockefeller III Fund fellowship and arrives in New York. Becomes the first Indian artist to be shown at Tate Britain, London.

1967

Wins a fellowship by the Fairfield Foundation, U.S.A., to travel and study in the country. Holds his first exhibition in the U.S., in Philadelphia. Completes a glass mural for Chappell Music Publishing Company, London.

1970s

Female body remains a recurrent theme throughout his career, which begins with elegant line drawings, evolving into implicit, erotic drawings in the Seventies, and making way for female anatomy reduced to shapes suspended in a space invaded by phallocentric forms later on.

1973

Returns to London to live and work.

1975

His wife Prem Lata passes away.

1975-79

Makes glass sculptures.

1977

Marries Jamaican actor Valerie Murray.

1978

Joins Indian Artists UK, a collective of Indian artists living and working in London, which was formed as the Indian Painters Collective in London in 1963.

1981

Works shown at October Gallery, London.

1982

Exhibits at National Theatre, London.

1983

Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, hosts an exhibition of his paintings.

1985-91

Works become more floral, inspired by his travels to Jamaica.

1987

Hamilton Galleries as well as Hayward Gallery, both in London, host solo exhibitions.

1989-90

His last show is at Hayward Gallery, London, in November 1989 that tours Wolverhampton Art Gallery (March 1990) and Manchester Art Gallery (May-June 1990); the landmark exhibition is titled The Other Story: Afro-Asian artists in post-war Britain.

1991

Passes away on 15 September in London.

2006

An exhibition of his works is held at Samuel Osborne Gallery, London; in the catalogue, Dr. Rachel Garfield observes: ‘Chandra’s work is inflected with the concerns of the modern movement’.

2015

DAG’s retrospective on the artist, Humanscapes, opens at its gallery in New York. The show travels to New Delhi and Mumbai.

2018

Is featured in a BBC documentary, Whoever Heard of a Black Artist?