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
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 in Baler in Rajasthan’s Sawai Madhopur district in 1905, Ramgopal Vijaivargiya developed a keen interest in painting at an early age, initiated by a wandering sadhu of the Ram Snehi sect. He joined Maharaja School of Art and Craft in Jaipur, where Asit Kumar Haldar was principal. Learn More
The son of a mechanical draughtsman, Mondal took to drawing and painting at the age of twelve when he injured his knee and was confined to bed. The Bengal famine of 1943 and the Calcutta communal riots of 1946 deeply impacted his psyche; he joined the Communist Party and became an activist. Mondal’s final refuge was art as the ultimate weapon of protest. 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 Calcutta, Nikhil Biswas was an indefatigable art activist and a firm believer in collective action. A founder member of Calcutta Painters Group, Chitrangshu Group, and Society of Contemporary Artists, Calcutta, Biswas was committed to bringing about technical innovations as well as transformations in contemporary artistic thought. 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 student of K. C. S. Paniker—the influential artist-teacher and founding father of the Madras Art Movement—M. Senathipathi is known for his richly textured works drawn from mythology and contextualised in contemporary social issues. Learn More
Born in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, M. K. Parandekar was a prolific painter—he made panoramic views of archaeological sites, landscapes and portraits. His initial training was under his father, a Sanskrit scholar and painter, and he followed that up with formal study at Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay. Learn More
A dynamic artist, intellectual, and educator, L. Munuswamy was a prominent practitioner within the Madras Art Movement who made abstraction a personal language in his artistic vocabulary. What made his works appealing was the international character, his individualistic vision and single-minded pursuit in his artistic endeavours. Learn More
Kattingeri Krishna Hebbar, born on 15 June 1911 near Udupi in Karnataka, showed an inclination for the arts from his childhood—his father used to make Ganesha idols. Learn More
Born on 12 March 1934 in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, Jyoti Bhatt studied painting and printmaking at M. S. University, Baroda. Inspired by his mentor, artist K. G. Subramanyan, Bhatt explored the academic divide between art and craft. Learn More