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
Globally renowned filmmaker Satyajit Ray called his photographer Nemai Ghosh ‘Boswell with a camera, instead of a pen’. Just like James Boswell’s biography of English writer Samuel Johnson is considered the finest in the language, Ghosh’s photo-biography of his mentor is one of the finest photo essays on a legend’s life; Ghosh was Ray’s photographer from 1968 until Ray’s death in 1992. Learn More
Possibly the most popular academic Indian artist after Raja Ravi Varma, M. V. Dhurandhar was born in Kolhapur. An early interest in drawing led his father to admit him to Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay, where he received special encouragement from its principal, John Griffiths. 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
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 Faridpur in present-day Bangladesh, Bijan Chowdhury moved to Calcutta to study at the Government School of Art, but due to his leftist activities, was expelled. He then went to the Government Institute of Arts, Dacca, headed by his erstwhile teacher, Zainul Abedin, from where he graduated in 1953. Learn More
Born in a well-to-do business family in Peshawar in present-day Pakistan, B. N. Arya showed an inclination towards the arts since childhood. Learn More
Born on 10 September 1890, at the Tagore mansion in Jorasanko, Calcutta, Asit Kumar Haldar was initiated into art by a traditional patua, Jhareshwar Chakravarty. Learn More
Born in Dacca (now Dhaka) in British India, Arun Bose was a pioneer printmaker who remained on the margins of mainstream Indian art as he built his career in the West, quite like Krishna Reddy, his senior contemporary who also mentored him briefly. Learn More
Born in Calcutta on 30 June 1959, Ananda Moy Banerji completed his B.F.A. in painting from the College of Art, New Delhi, in 1980, where he also studied printmaking under acclaimed printmaker Anupam Sud. Learn More
Ambadas was born in 1922 in Akola, a town in Maharashtra. After matriculation, he received training at a private art school in Ahmedabad, run by the artist Ravi Shankar Raval. Learn More