Search results for: 'Drawing a Nation - The Delhi Silpi Chakra'

Indra Dugar, unlike his illustrious father Hirachand Dugar (1898-1951), did not have any formal education in art. Born in 1918 in Jiaganj in Murshidabad, West Bengal, he sub-consciously absorbed the artistic ambience of Santiniketan where he grew up; his father was one of the earliest students at Kala Bhavana at the Visva-Bharati University. Dugar acquired art skills from his father and considered Santiniketan his alma mater. He was inspired by his father’s mentor Nandalal Bose, who saw great promise in him. Learn More

Hailing from Tripura, Dharmanarayan Dasgupta remained almost entirely within the fold of the Calcutta art world throughout his life. He trained at Santiniketan, from where he received his diploma in fine arts in 1961. Learn More

An intrepid traveller, Devayani Krishna’s journey into art began at a very early age in Indore. Learn More

Born and brought up in Benaras, Biswanath Mukerji left home as a teenager to become an artist. From 1939-45, he studied at the Government School of Arts, Lucknow, under Asit Kumar Haldar, Lalit Mohan Sen, Hiranmoy Roychoudhuri, and Bireswar Sen. He learnt to paint watercolours in the wash technique under Haldar, who himself had trained under Abandindranath Tagore. Learn More

A miniature landscape artist par excellence, Bireswar Sen is known for evolving a unique style wherein he painted vistas of the gigantic Himalayas and the deep valleys on a minuscule scale. Learn More

Recognised as India’s first pop artist, Bhupen Khakhar graduated as a chartered accountant in 1960. He began painting in the early 1960s after joining a course in art criticism at the Faculty of Fine Arts, M. S. University, Baroda, at the behest of the leading Baroda artist Gulammohamed Sheikh.   Learn More

Abdul Aziz Raiba was born in Bombay on 20 July 1922 and studied miniature painting at Sir J. J. School of Art upon receiving a scholarship in 1942. He was an early associate of the Progressive Artists’ Group but later struck out on his own due to difference of opinion with other members. 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

Among artists, Velu Viswanadhan is often referred to as ‘Paris’ Viswanadhan because he made the French capital his home. Born in 1940 in Kollam, Kerala, Viswanadhan joined Government College of Fine Arts, Madras, in 1960, where he studied under K. C. S. Paniker, and along with him became a founder-member of the Cholamandal Artists’ Village. Learn More

Born into a family of painters in Kolhapur, Vasant Anant Mali studied art professionally at Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay, in the 1920s. It was here that he grasped the nuances of painting through academic realism. Working mostly in the medium of watercolour and oil, Mali keenly observed how some of his teachers, including Walter Langhammer, worked with various tools and applied bold brushstrokes with knife. Mali’s work had a forcefulness, a depth that was unique and could be seen, particularly, in portraits done by him. Learn More

One of the earliest British artists to arrive in India on a painting expedition, Thomas Daniell is one half of the famous painting duo, the Daniells, the other being his nephew William, with whom he created some of the earliest and most celebrated views of India.

Learn More

Sunayani Devi was born on 18 June 1875 in the Tagore family of talented writers and painters—Nobel-laureate Rabindranath Tagore was an uncle, and Gaganendranath and Abanindranath Tagore were her elder brothers. Essentially a self-taught artist, she witnessed the Bengal renaissance, but it was only in her thirties that she began to paint, encouraged by her husband, the grandson of reformist Raja Ram Mohun Roy. Learn More