The grandnephew of the well-known sculptor V. P. Karmakar, and the son of an artist who worked in Bombay film studios, Prabhakar Barwe was born on 16 March 1936 in Nagaon, Maharashtra. He joined Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay, in 1954. Learn More
The grandnephew of the well-known sculptor V. P. Karmakar, and the son of an artist who worked in Bombay film studios, Prabhakar Barwe was born on 16 March 1936 in Nagaon, Maharashtra. He joined Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay, in 1954. Learn More
Born in Bombay, Pestonji E. Bomanji joined Sir J. J. School of Art at the age of thirteen. While there, the principal, John Griffiths, identified his talent and appointed him a draughtsman on an expedition to the Ajanta caves in 1872, which he came to head in 1880. Though Bomanji initially wanted to be a sculptor, his interest in portraiture was triggered after 1877, when Griffiths recommended him as an apprentice to Valentine Prinsep, a visiting artist; he went on to train under John Lockwood Kipling. Learn More
Born and brought up in Benaras, Biswanath Mukerji left home as a teenager to become an artist. From 1939-45, he studied at the Government School of Arts, Lucknow, under Asit Kumar Haldar, Lalit Mohan Sen, Hiranmoy Roychoudhuri, and Bireswar Sen. He learnt to paint watercolours in the wash technique under Haldar, who himself had trained under Abandindranath Tagore. Learn More
Born in 1922, pioneering modernist sculptor Ardeshir M. Davierwalla—fondly called Adi—was a pharmaceutical chemist by training; he went to school in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu, and studied pharmaceutical engineering at the Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute (now known as the Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute) in Bombay. Learn More
Abdul Aziz Raiba was born in Bombay on 20 July 1922 and studied miniature painting at Sir J. J. School of Art upon receiving a scholarship in 1942. He was an early associate of the Progressive Artists’ Group but later struck out on his own due to difference of opinion with other members. Learn More
Of Goan origin, Vishwanath Nageshkar was born and raised in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, in 1910. He obtained his diploma from Sir. J. J. School of Art, Bombay, in 1930; he also specialised in frescos from the same institute. A contemporary of Amrita Sher-Gil, Nageshkar was one of the first Indian artists to move to Paris for his education—he studied at École National Supérieure des Beaux-Arts from 1930-35. Later, he studied at Kunstakademic in Munich, Germany, from 1938-40, and under Professor A. Strübe in Berlin, 1940-41. Learn More
One of India’s most revered ‘non-objective’ painters—he preferred that term over ‘abstraction’—Vasudeo Santu Gaitonde was born in Nagpur in 1924. He received his diploma in painting from Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay, in 1948. Impressed by his work, the members of the Progressive Artists’ Group—formed in 1947—pulled him into their meetings. The strength of his talent was soon recognised elsewhere—he won the first prize of the Young Asian Artists Association in Tokyo in 1957, and a John D. Rockefeller III Fund fellowship in 1964. Learn More
A multifaceted artist who spent a lifetime exploring human suffering through his sketches, prints and sculptures, Somnath Hore was born in Chittagong in present-day Bangladesh in 1921. Studying briefly at Government School of Art, Calcutta, in the mid-1940s, Hore trained under Zainul Abedin, and, later, under printmaker Saifuddin Ahmed. A participatory practice with fellow artists like Chittaprosad led to his intellectual growth. Learn More
Born on 15 August 1894 in the north Calcutta neighbourhood of Nather Bagan, Satish Sinha showed an aptitude for the arts since childhood. He enrolled at the Government School of Art at the age of eighteen as a pupil of Abanindranath Tagore. However, he had to give up studying within three years due to his father’s death. He joined an insurance company as an agent to earn his livelihood but continued to study painting privately. Learn More
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 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