K.G. Subramanyan

K.G. Subramanyan (1924- ) is a contemporary Indian painter. One of most revered of living painters in India, often drawing comparison with Tyeb Mehta and M.F. Husain, he is celebrated as much for his wide-ranging scholarship as for his visual satires.

Life

Subramanyan was born in 1924 in a village in Kerala, India, [http://www.contemporaryindianart.com/k_g__subramanyam.htm] and initially studied economics at Presidency College, Madras [http://www.contemporaryindianart.com/k_g__subramanyam.htm] . During freedom struggle he was actively involved and was known for his Gandhian ideology. He was even imprisoned and later banned from joining government colleges during the British Rule. The turning point of his life, as an artist, came when he visited Santiniketan to study in Kala Bhavan, the art faculty of Visva Bharati University, in the year 1944. Under the tutelage such pioneers of modern Indian art as Nandlal Bose, Benode Behari Mukherjee and Ramkinkar Baij, Subramanyan studied there till 1948.

In 1951 he became a lecturer at the Faculty of Fine Arts in M.S. University in Baroda. He went to study briefly in London at the Slade School of Art as a British Council scholar in 1956. While having already gone back to Baroda as a professor in painting and continuing there, he did a short stint in New York as a J.D. Rockefeller Fellow in 1966 [http://www.contemporaryindianart.com/k_g__subramanyam.htm] . In 1980, Subramanyan went back to Santiniketan to teach in his alma mater Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharati University, in his capacity as a professor in painting, which he continued till he retired in 1989. In the same year he was made a Professor Emeritus of Visva Bharati.

Subramanyan now stays in Baroda with his wife.

Career & Contribution

Subramanyan is as revered as an artist as he is as a theoretician and art historian. His chief contribution as a theorist has been the rigorous re-contextualization of Western theories and practices in the Indian or Oriental context, as well pointing out the fundamental differences between the Western and Indian social realities, namely the problem of art/craft division of the Indian artistic traditions. As an artist he is known as one of the most versatile practisioners, having done works, apart from painting, in the traditions of mural, various craft traditions of India, toy-making, pottery, illustration & design, terracotta sculpture. His paintings are noted for their inherent wit, ironies, satire and critical social commentaries.

Honours & Awards

* Padma Shree in 1975.
* Kalidas Samman in 1981.
* Honorory D. Litt. (Honoris Causa) from the Rabindra Bharati University in 1992
* Made Fellow of Kerala Lalit Kala Akademi in 1993.
* Honorory D. Litt. (Honoris Causa) from the Banaras Hindu University in 1997
* Manaviyam Ravi Varma Award from Government of Kerala, in 2001
* Kala Ratna from Lalit Kala Academy, in 2005
* Padma Bhushan in 2006

External links

* [http://www.contemporaryindianart.com/k_g__subramanyam.htm| 20th Century Museum of Contemporary Indian Art]
* [http://www.artnet.com/artist/688287/kg-subramanyan.html| Subramanyan on "Artnet"]
* [http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2009/stories/20030509000807900.htm| The Quintessential Indian Artist" - ""Frontline""]
* [http://www.cimaartindia.com/NewCima/Artists/KGSUBRAMANYAN.htm| Centre for International Modern Art]