An early Indian abstractionist who forged his own vocabulary, distinct from the dominant forces that gripped India’s art community in the early years of Independence, Piraji Sagara came to be known for his collages made of wood relief amalgamated with abstract paintings. Learn More
Well-known for his silkscreen prints, Paramjeet Singh was born and brought up in Jamshedpur in present-day Jharkhand where career prospects appeared limited to engineering or medicine. His parents hoped he would study architecture, but destiny had other plans as a friend took Singh to a local art class, which spurred his interest in drawing and painting. Learn More
Born in Shivpur Diyar in Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh, Muni Singh studied at College of Art, Lucknow. In 1963, he received formal training in fresco-making from Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan. A contemporary of Badri Nath Arya, R. S. Bisht, and Sanat Chatterjee, Singh’s preferred medium was watercolour. He mastered the miniature style of painting—Mughal, Rajput, and Pahari—and translated it into his own idiom and technique. Learn More
A painter with a strikingly elegant bearing, Jehangir Sabavala was born on 23 August 1922 in an affluent Parsi family in Bombay and grew up in an intellectually charged environment. He studied at Elphinstone College, Bombay, before graduating from Sir J. J. School of Art in 1944. Thereafter, he studied at some of the leading art schools of Europe—The Heatherly School of Art, London (1945-47), Académie André Lhote, Paris (1948-51), Académie Julian, Paris (1953-54), and Académie de la Grande Chaumière, Paris (1957). Learn More
Born on 26 March 1934 in the village of Valod, Gujarat, Haku Shah absorbed deeply the way of life, culture and beliefs of the pastoral and the folk, which he amply manifested in his works. This understanding also moulded him into a cultural anthropologist who brought global academic focus on tribal and folk arts and culture of India. Learn More
Zarina Hashmi née Rasheed (she dropped her surname in later life) was born on 16 July 1937 in Aligarh to Sheikh Abdur Rasheed, a professor of history at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). She was ten at the time of the Partition and the consequent events impacted her life and her art forever, especially since her family chose to migrate to Pakistan some years later. 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