Prabhakar Barwe

1936

Born on 16 March at Nagaon, Maharashtra. Spends the early years of his life with his grandparents. Famous sculptor Vinayak Pandurang Karmakar is his granduncle.

1954-59

Enters Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay, influenced by his granduncle, where he is inspired by Paul Klee. As a reaction against the academic style, he turns towards abstraction.

1961

Joins Weavers’ Service Centre at Banaras and works closely with K. G. Subramanyan, Gautam Waghela and Ambadas. The Centre invites leading artists of the time to collaborate with weavers for a cross-disciplinary approach towards art. This is an important period in his career as the tantric philosophy shapes his future artistic expression. Later influences include the philosophy of Tao and Zen, with his forms becoming more precise and colours muted.

1963

Is honoured with the Academy of Fine Arts award, Calcutta. One-man show at Book Bay Gallery, Wisconsin, U.S.A.

1964

Wins the Bombay Art Society award.

1965

Returns to Bombay; produces a body of work that becomes part of his first solo exhibition at Jehangir Art Gallery.

1967-68

Solo show at Taj Art Gallery, Bombay. Wins the Bombay Art Society award.

1969

Participates in the ‘5th International Young Artists Exhibition’, Tokyo. Wins a special award instituted by the Japanese newspaper Yoshihari Shimbun in Tokyo. Is part of the Indian Pavilion’s ‘Man and His World’ exhibition at the Montreal World Fair, Canada.

1970

Part of the group show, ‘Indian Painters’, shown at Hamburg, Germany and Zurich, Switzerland.

1971

Participates in the second International Triennale, New Delhi.

1972

Begins to maintain a diary; writes a total of sixty-two dairies, mostly in Marathi, but a few in English as well.Along with his close set of artist friends, Dilip Ranade, Lalitha Lajmi, among others, forms an artist group, Astitva (Existence).

1975

Is part of the inaugural group show at Grey Art Gallery, New York University. Participates in the third International Triennale, New Delhi. Is awarded the Lalit Kala Akademi award for his painting Blue Cloud, an ode to Kalidasa’s Sanskrit classic Meghdutam. Wins a Maharashtra state award.

1977

Participates in the group show ‘Pictorial Space’ at Rabindra Bhavan Galleries, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi.

1978

Participates in the fourth International Triennale, New Delhi.

1982

Has a solo show in Ahmedabad. Participates in the fifth Interntional Triennale, New Delhi.

1983

Is part of the group show ‘Modern Indian Paintings’ at Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D. C.

1985

Writes a letter to the Camlin Art Foundation for a specific quality of canvas, free of knots and properly primed. Later, he acknowledges Camlin’s contribution while urging the brand to be compatible with international standards.

1988

Is selected for the U.S. government’s International Visitors programme in 1983 followed by a residency at Yaddo Artists’ Village, Saratoga Springs, New York.

1989

Breaks down many barriers in Indian modern art by presenting the series, Kora Canvas.

1990

Also a writer, his book on various facets of the creative process, Kora Canvas, is published in Marathi by Mouj Prakashan. It is translated into English by novelist Shanta Gokhale and published as The Blank Canvas by Bodhana Publication in 2013.

1992

Has a full-fledged show at Chemould Gallery, Bombay.

1993

Participates in the group show ‘Reflections and Images’, exhibited at Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, and Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay.

1995

Passes away on 6 December in Bombay at the age of fifty-nine.

2013

An exhibition of his works is organised by Bodhana Arts and Research Foundation in Mumbai in 2013.

2019

‘Inside the Box, a Prabhakar Barwe Retrospective’, is curated by Jesal Thaker at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, 2019. The exhibition travels the same year to the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, as ‘Astitva, a Prabhakar Barwe Retrospective’.