Born in Mysore, S. G. Vasudev completed his diploma in fine arts, from Government College of Art and Craft, Madras, in 1968, where he was deeply influenced by artist-teacher K. C. S. Paniker. While still a student, he won Lalit Kala Akademi’s national award in 1967. 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
Prokash Karmakar learnt painting at his father, artist-teacher Prahlad Karmakar’s atelier, till the socio-political turmoil of the 1940s and his father’s early death put an end to it. After his matriculation, Karmakar joined Government College of Arts and Crafts, Calcutta, but quit soon thereafter for reasons of poverty. In between, he designed book covers and worked as an illustrator for his livelihood; he even joined the army but absconded after two years, driven by his desire to paint. Learn More
Born in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, Manu Parekh studied at Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay. With influences as varied as Arshile Gorky, Roberto Matta, S. B. Palsikar and Rabindranath Tagore, Parekh has always sought to explore his inner landscape through art. Learn More
Born in Nashik, Maharashtra, M. S. Joshi studied at Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay, in the 1930s. Joshi combined his training in academic realism with a sense of vitality, precision and aesthetics to reveal India’s rich cityscapes and landscapes in his watercolour and gouache works. There was immense depth in the rendering of his subjects, which included people, places, architectural elements, all done in a subdued yet textured palette. Learn More
Born on 15 February 1939 in Faridpur (now in Bangladesh), Jogen Chowdhury’s family moved to Calcutta following the Partition. He studied art at the Government College of Art and Crafts, Calcutta, and subsequently at École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris. Learn More
One of the earliest pioneers of European modernism in Indian sculpture, Hiranmoy Roychaudhuri studied under E. B. Havell at the Government School of Art, Calcutta in 1905. He was also one of the earliest Indian artists to go to England to study art; he went to the Royal College of Art, London, in 1910 to train in sculpture. Learn More
Born in Jamalpur in present day Bangladesh on 9 February 1936, Ganesh Haloi migrated with his family to Calcutta upon Partition. From 1952-56, he studied at the city’s Government College of Arts and Crafts, where he acquired his personal style of sophisticated elegance and finish. Upon graduation, he joined the Archaeological Survey of India and was assigned the documentation of the cave paintings of Ajanta from 1957-63. Learn More
Born in Sindgi, Karnataka, Iranna G. Rukumpur, popularly known as G. R. Iranna, grew up on his father’s farm, worked in the fields, and studied in Sarang Math (a traditional village school or an ashram) where he discovered his early interest in drawing and painting. As a child, freshly laid-out roads were Iranna’s earliest canvases on which he drew images of Hanuman, the monkey-god, with chalk. Learn More
Devraj Dakoji was born in Dharmaji Gudem village in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh to a family of Ayurveda practitioners. Picking herbs for his father every morning before going to school proved to be a lasting influence in Dakoji’s life, making nature the leitmotif of his art. Learn More
Born on 8 October 1926, in Faridpur (in present day Bangladesh), Biren De shifted to Calcutta with his family before Partition and studied at the Government College of Arts and Crafts. Later, he moved to New Delhi to teach at College of Art. Years spent in New York and extensive travelling over continents subsequently enriched his artistic expression with new forms. Learn More
Born in Bengal in 1917, Bimal Dasgupta was raised by his uncle, a government employee posted in Delhi. His uncle’s family did not support his ambition of becoming an artist, so he joined Calcutta’s College of Arts and Crafts in 1937 with his father’s help. Learn More