EDUCATION
1939-45 Studied at Govt. College of Arts & Crafts,
Madras, earning a first class Diploma in Painting. 1946
Learnt Textile Designing at Govt. Textile Institute,
Madras. 1947 Diploma in Photography- Linghams Institute
of Photography.
EXHIBITIONS
- 1946 Solo exhb. at Hindi Prachar Sabha, Madras.
- 1949 Solo exhb. at Theosophical Society, Madanapalle,
Andhra Pradesh.
- 1956 Contemporary Indian Art Exhb. to Romania, Hungary,
Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and U.S.S.R., Govt. of India,
New Delhi.
- 1956-89 Participated in all the National Exhb. of
Art, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi.
- 1957 First South East Asian Exhb., Manila, Philippines.
- 1959 Indian Contemporary Art Exhb., Villa Hugel,
West Germany.
- 1960 Exhb. of Contemporary Indian Painting to U.A.E.,
Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi.
- 1961 Indian Art Exhb. to Latin America, Govt. of
India, New Delhi.
- 1962 Participated in the First International Exhb.
of Fine Arts, Saigon.
- 1962 Exhb.`Commonwealth Art Today`, Commonwealth
Institute, London, U.K.
- 1962 Indian Art Today to Bulgaria, AIFACS, New Delhi.
- 1964 Solo exhb. of drawings, Triveni Gallery, New
Delhi.
- 1964 Solo exhb. of drawings, Gallery Chemould, Bombay.
- 1965 Ten Contemporary Indian Painters,
COLLECTION
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi. Lalit Kala
Academi, New Delhi. Ford Foundation, New Delhi. Air
India, Bombay. Panjab Museum, Chandigarh. Andhera Pradesh
State Museum, Hyderabad. Bharat Kala Bhavan, Varanasi.
National Art Gallery, Madras. Indian International Centre,
New Delhi. Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Calcutta.
USIS, New Delhi. Raj Bhavan, Ahmedabad. Massachussets
Institute of Technology, Massachussets, U.S.A. Brandeis
University, U.S.A. Berlin Museum of Indian Art, Germany.
Commonwealth Institute, Sydney, Australia. Masanori
Fukoka and Glenbarra Meseum, Hemeji, Japan. Institute
of Papua New Guinea Studies, Papua New Guinea Royal
Tropical Museum, Holland. The Asia and Pacific Museum,
Poland. Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi.
AWARDS
1945 Award for painting `The Divine Light`, Fine Arts
Exhibition, Madras. 1947 Awarded Scholarship for studying
textile-designing course at Government Textile Institute
Madras. 1953 Award for painting `Struggle`, All India
Swadeshi Exhibition, Madras. 1956 Award for painting
`Winter night`, Academy of Fine Arts, Amritsar. 1957
Award for painting Shilpa Kala Parishad, Patna. 1958
Punjab Govt. Silver Medal, Academy of Fine Arts, Amritsar.
1963 President of India`s Silver Plaque`, for best painting
`Sea Life` at the 33rd Annual Art Exhb. of AIFACS, New
Delhi. 1966 National Award (for drawing), Lalit Kala
Akademi, New Delhi. 1976 Special Award of Honour, Karnataka,
Chitrakala Parishad, Bangalore. 1978 National Award
(for painting) Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi. 1985 Silver
plaque presented by AIFACS, for contribution to Art
at the `2nd Veteran Artists Exhibition`, New Delhi.
1986 Conferred Fellowship of the Tamil Nadu Oviam Nankalai
Kuzhu (Tamil Nadu State Lalit Kala)
STYLE
His pictorial language is basically symbolic, which
was markedly influenced by his direct experience of
tribal life and culture. No wonder his art had so much
spontaneity and purity in it. Creatures and Forces of
Nature assume anthromorphic forms, symbol of powers,
both earthly and magical. The complexity of meaning
is also reflected in the corresponding complexity of
technique. He developed a very elaborate way of representing
space: figures are superimposed on figures, colours
merge into each other, forming misty and defused effect,
which could be read as a mass of detail.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
1947-48 Senior Instructor, Painting Dept., Govt. College
of Art and Craft, Madras. 1951-54 Art Instructor, The
Rishi Valley School, Madanapalle, Andhera Pradesh. 1954-69
Exhb. Officer, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi.
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