A founder-member of the Progressive Artists’ Group, Sadanandji K. Bakre was born in Baroda, Gujarat, on 10 November 1920. He obtained a diploma in modelling and stone carving from Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay, following which he was a pilot with the Air Force during the Second World War. Learn More
Born in 1899 in the village of Verka near Amritsar, S. G. Thakar Singh showed early aptitude for the arts by drawing on the walls of his home with coal. With no formal training, he went on to excel in the academic style of painting, rendering stunning landscapes, portraits and still-lifes. He apprenticed under local artist Mohd. Alam and moved with him to Bombay when the latter found a job as a stage artist with a theatre company. Learn More
Born on 3 March 1919 in Madras, S. Dhanapal trained under sculptor-teacher D. P. Roy Chowdhury at the city’s Government College of Art and Craft. He joined the faculty of his college after completing his studies, and, in 1957, when K. C. S. Paniker was principal, Dhanapal was appointed the head of the sculpture department. He eventually became principal of his alma mater in 1972. Learn More
Born on 31 October 1958 in Bangalore, Rekha Rodwittiya is an artist aligned with the Baroda School whose work engages with gender politics, socio-political subjugation, human degradation, violence and discrimination, all filtered through the prism of self-questioning. Learn More
Born on 25 May 1906 in Bankura in Bengal, Ramkinkar Baij was an iconoclast who defied the artistic norms of Santiniketan, where he had enrolled on the advice of journalist Ramananda Chatterjee. Learn More
Ram Kumar was born in Simla on 23 September 1924. Completing his master’s in economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, he attended evening classes at Sarada Ukil School of Art, where he learnt the ‘Western style’ of painting under Sailoz Mookherjea. Learn More
Born in 1936 in New Delhi, Rajendra Dhawan studied at the Polytechnic (later renamed College of Art) from 1953-58, and at Belgrade in erstwhile Yugoslavia from 1960-62. While in New Delhi, he became a founding member of the group called The Unknown that survived from 1960-64. Learn More
Born in Amritsar on 17 November 1926, R. N. Pasricha grew up in Delhi. Graduating in science, he worked as a typist to earn his livelihood. But, it was painting that drew him—a passion since childhood— and he enrolled for night classes in art. He honed his skills in painting under the guidance of artist Abani Sen. Learn More
Born in Sylhet district of present-day Bangladesh, Partha Pratim Deb trained under Ramkinkar Baij and Benode Behari Mukherjee at Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan, from where he graduated in 1966. He then took a post diploma from M. S. University, Baroda, in 1968. Learn More
Born in Amritsar on 23 February 1935, Paramjit Singh studied art at Delhi Polytechnic from where he completed a diploma in 1958. About a decade later, he went to Norway to study printmaking at Atelier Nord. Learn More
Pakala Thirumal Reddy was born to a farmer’s family in Andhra Pradesh’s Karimnagar district. Defying his family’s opposition to art as a professional practice and fascinated with colour and form in his childhood, Reddy joined Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay, on a scholarship, to study painting. Learn More
Born in an educator’s family on 7 April 1934 in a small town in Gujarat, Natvar Bhavsar studied to be a drawing teacher and began his career in Chanasma. He then joined the C. N. School in Ahmedabad for its five-year diploma course in art offered by Sir J. J. School of Art; simultaneously, he continued to study for his master’s in teaching art. Learn More