Search results for: 'Mother and child pai'

Among the most accomplished watercolourists of modern India, Shyamal Dutta Ray was born in Ranchi, then in Bihar, and studied at Government College of Arts and Crafts, Calcutta, from 1950-55. He was a founding member of Society of Contemporary Artists in 1959, and of Painters 80, founded in 1968. Learn More

Born in Calcutta on 20 October 1947, Shuvaprasanna is a quintessential painter of the eastern metropolis that he unabashedly loves. He graduated from Indian College of Art, Rabindra Bharati University, Calcutta, in 1969. An active member of Calcutta Painters group, urban themes are a constant in his work. Beset by problems and politics, but possessing great potential, Kolkata has remained his abiding inspiration as he absorbs and responds to its upheavals, the tumult of its masses, and its frequent political turbulence. Learn More

Born in 1910 in Pabna, in present-day Bangladesh, Radha Charan Bagchi graduated from College of Arts and Crafts, Calcutta, in traditional Indian art, oil painting, and Western academism. Abanindranath Tagore, Mukul Dey and other Bengal masters were major influences but Bagchi evolved his own artistic style. In 1951, he joined Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan, as teacher, officiating twice as its principal in subsequent years. 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 Meerut, Navjot Altaf studied fine and applied arts at Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay, from 1967-72. A painter, sculptor, installation artist, and filmmaker inspired by Marxist ideologies, Navjot has consciously questioned various frameworks of social norms and created art to bring focus to the plight of the depressed classes. Learn More

Born in Bombay, Mohan Samant showed early proficiency for both music and art. A lifelong player of sarangi—an Indian bowed, string instrument—Samant chose painting as a career and obtained a diploma from Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay, in 1952. In the early 1950s, he was influenced by his teacher Shankar Palsikar, a painter of the traditional school, but moved soon towards an expressionistic mode in an attempt to discover his own style, fusing the expressive, the primitive and the abstract in his art. Learn More

Born in Dhuri, Punjab, Manjit Bawa was encouraged by his brothers to pursue art and he studied at Delhi Polytechnic from 1958-63 under eminent artist-teachers Somnath Hore, Dhanraj Bhagat, B. C. Sanyal, and Abani Sen. He moved to England in 1964, where he worked as a silkscreen printmaker and studied at London School of Painting. 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 Gulam Rasool Dar in a Shia Muslim family in Srinagar in Kashmir on 20 June 1929, the artist took on his wife’s Hindu name ‘Santosh’ as his own, in a move opposing patriarchy and religion. His father’s death forced a young Gulam to work as a signboard painter, papier-mâché artist, and weaver. He learnt to paint watercolour landscapes from Dina Nath Raina in Kashmir before studying under N. S. Bendre at M. S. University, Baroda, on the recommendation of S. H. Raza. In Baroda, he produced a large body of figurative and landscape works, mainly in the cubist style. Learn More

Born in Bengal, Arup Das remains one of the most formidable muralists and painters of Indian modern art. He graduated from the Government College of Arts and Crafts Calcutta, in the 1940s. Later, in the 1960s, he became a member of All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, New Delhi. Learn More

S. H. Raza had begun to paint using oils, moving away from his impressionistic watercolours, on his way to winning the prestigious critics’ award in 1956. Just a year before, he completed a stunning painting of Parisian rooftops, revealing not a daylight scene but one of the night, only yellow lamplight from the streets dimly silhouetting the chimneys and sloping roofs. This period of Raza’s career is somewhat lesser known than his later, tantra-inspired works, as Ashok Vajpeyi and Aman Nath explain to us.

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Let us take a moment to appreciate this magnificent riverside scene that can be instantly recognised as a view of Benares by the distinctive steep steps, or ghats, running down to the Ganga. American artist and Orientalist Edwin Lord Weeks had a remarkable ability to create an impression of a real-time scene unfolding before viewers, enhanced by the subtle plays of light and colour. A prolific artist who created a visual diary of his travels through his paintings—of which his India works are arguably his finest with an appeal that has transcended time.

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