Category: Obituary

Tushar Joag (1966- 2018) On Monday, December 17th, ‘Artists Unite’ issued a statement signed by 450 Indian painters, writers and filmmakers warning that “democracy is not a majoritarian project to identify enemies and enforce uniformity of language, behavior and culture”. It added, “Democracy is the celebration of a collective will for peace, of living together […]

Krishna Reddy [1925 – 2018] Rahul Bhattacharya Indian Modern Art has had many Masters, artists who have taken the first steps to post-colonize the formal contexts of Western Modernisms. Within this galaxy of stars, Krishna Reddy was a rare figure focused on extending the concerns of modernism, and (yet) constantly developing a new language. There […]

Jivya Soma Mashe (1934 – 2018) Vikas Harish “The white chownk on the village walls were my escape, just as was the forest and the adjoining mountain. They were my dream space, restful in a World of brute force. I dreamt to paint as those village women” (Jivya Soma Mashe, 2009) While he prospered as […]

Ram Kumar (1924 – 2018) “Any great work of art… revives and readapts time and space, and the measure of its success is the extent to which it makes you an inhabitant of that world – the extent to which it invites you in and lets you breathe its strange, special air.” – Leonard Bernstein […]

Chitralekha Sen TagoreArt & Deal Correspondent It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of artist, mother, sister and friend Chitralekha Sen Tagore. She was born in Guwahati, in the state of Assam as the eldest child of Subho and Aarati Tagore. She began her initial training as an artist at the Government […]

Revashankar Sharma (1935 – 2017) The Master Of Fantasy In The World Of Miniature Painting – A Tribute Dr. Seema Bhalla "When I visited Udaipur in 2013, I began my trip by looking for miniature paintings that were being sold in the shops, to the tourists. While I was highly disappointed by the available commercially […]

Syed Haider Raza(1922-2016) Art & Deal Correspondent Syed Haider, legend of modern Indian art breathed his last in Delhi on 23rd July, 2016. He was 94 and had been working up to his last days till his body gave way and finally succumbed. Raza was born in a small village in Madhya Pradesh in 1922. […]

Mahasweta Devi(1926-2016) Art & Deal Correspondent Mahashweta Devi, the 90 year old noted writer-activist from Bengal, passed away on July 28th 2016. Born in 1926 in Dhaka, now in Bangladesh,Mahashweta was inspired by both her poet-writer father, Manish Ghatak, and her social-worker mother, Dharitri Devi. Renowned Bengali film director Rittik Ghatak was her brother, and […]

Hema Upadhyay [1972 – 2015] Art & Deal correspondent “I produce realistic form-based works, often as a construct of the ‘truth’ or ‘reality’ that surround us “- Hema Upadhyay A painter, a printmaker, an installation artist, a sculptor and then finally ‘a VISUAL ARTIST’, that’s how Hema Upadhyay defined herself. She completed her Bachelor in […]

Shamshad Husain-[1946 – 2015] Art & Deal Correspondent “I think drawing and painting human figures is not very easy, but what matters is the empathy one has, and it is this that I seek to express.” – Shamshad Husain Known for his flamboyant figuration on a sombre palette, unlike his father veteran artist M F […]

We Mourn the loss of an artist who created the Rock Garden of Chandigarh, a visionary landscape of sculpture and architecture NEK CHAND SAINI (15 DECEMBERr 1924 – 12 JUNE 2015) Art & Deal Correspondent Nek Chand Saini was born in 1924 in Berian-Kalan, (now in Pakistan) in a family of landlords located 90 km […]

M. Sivanesan (1940-2015) Art & Deal The art world lost Sivanesan this year, a prolific artist of the times. He shall always remain an important name in Indian contemporary art. His indigenous subjects and his very selective colour palette marked his style. He did not use his paintings to make statements as he felt that […]

Mrinalini Mukherjee [1949- 2015] Art & Deal Mrinalini Mukherjee, one of India’s most acclaimed contemporary artists passed away on February 2, 2015. Daughter of artists Benode Behari , a pioneer of Bengali modernism and Leela Mukherjee, Mrinalini was born in Bombay in 1949. Having studied painting at M S University of Baroda, she did her […]

Khushwant Singh : Man For All Seasons Uma Nair “Here lies one who spared neither man nor God Waste not your tears on him, he was a sod Writing nasty things he regarded as great fun Thank the Lord he is dead, this son of a gun.” Uma Nair remembers and pays homage to the […]

Absence Which Follows Arpana Caur Khushwant uncle went yesterday after a friendship of four decades with my mother who made him President of her Academy and consulted him frequently except in the last two to three years, not wanting to trouble him with our troubles. He translated and published several of my mother’s short stories […]

Prokash Karmakar [1933 – 2014] Art & Deal Correspondent 24th February, 2014 saw the demise of an eminent Indian artist, Prokash Karmakar. Born in 1933 to an artistic family in Kolkata with a well-known artist-teacher for a father, Prokash Karmakar already had it in his genes. On completing his matriculation, Karmakar joined the Government College […]

C. N. KARUNAKARAN (1940-2013): DEATH OF A PAINTER JOHNY ML C. N. Karunakaran is no more. He was 74 years old. There are some artists who choose to live in their own birthplace, work there, gain recognition amongst the same linguistic groups, live a happy life and pass away. They do not aspire for recognition […]

Siddharth Sivakumar Remembering Parvez Kabir Pedalling around the campus on his bicycle with an impish face, Parvez Kabir looked more like a student than a teacher. But behind his youthful informality and charming personality was a seasoned critic, someone deeply committed to the study of art history. Parvez-da always elicited friendly conversations, and yet today, […]

Fair Youth Beneath the Trees: Remembering Chinmoy Pramanik – Johny ML”Then the sun cleared the hillock in a hurry, the warmth discovering him, the light dissuading him. But his calm, dark eyes sparkled as he summoned the neutral witness of time to pay attention to his last act as Gangiri Bhadra.” – Shoes of the […]

Art & Deal – Correspomdent K. Bikram Singh The reign of Jahangir and Shah Jahan are known for a number of innovations in the arts. For instance, female portraiture was unheard of, before Jahangir assigned court painters the task of painting his queen, Noor Jehan. Painters began detailing facial features intricately and the art of […]

and Th e Sun set in the West Pandit Ravi Shankar (7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012)The legendary Indian classical musician Pandit Ravi Shankar suffered upperrespiratory and heart ailments and passed away last month on 11th December. Spanning a long and eventful career of more than eight decades, Pandit Ravi Shankar elevated and brought […]

SUNIL GANGOPADHYAY [1934-2012] Sunil Gangopadhyay was an Indian poet and novelist. Born in Faridpur, Bangladesh, Gangopadhyay obtained his Master’s degree in Bengali from the University of Calcutta, In 1953 he with few of his friends started a Bengali poetry magazine Krittibas. Later he wrote for many different publications. Gangopadhyay created the Bengali fi ctional character […]