AKBAR PADAMSEE
Akara Modern
1928 -2020
Akbar Padamsee, a firebrand artist born
in Mumbai, was a part of the Progressive Artists’ Group (PAG) that forged a new
modernist style in Indian art. His oeuvre included mediums from oil painting,
plastic emulsion, and watercolour, to printmaking and computer graphics. An
‘artist’ in every sense of the term, Padamsee dabbled in the roles of a
filmmaker, sculptor, photographer, engraver, and lithographer. Whatever his
chosen medium, his works have consistently displayed a strong command over the
use of space, form, and colour, spanning several important periods in Modern
Indian Art. The most familiar body of his works is his abstract non-figurative
‘metascapes’ and his ‘mirror images’ of heads and figures.
Padamsee acquired his Bachelor’s Degree
from the Sir J. J. School of Art, Mumbai, and it was during his years there
that he got associated with the PAG. In 1951, Padamsee moved to Paris after
being awarded a scholarship by the French Government- where he was particularly
influenced by the work of Fauvist painters such as Georges Rouault.
His first solo was held at the Jehangir Art Gallery in 1954. He
was awarded the Lalit Kala Akademi Fellowship in 1962 and a fellowship by the
Rockefeller Foundation in 1965, later inviting him to be an artist in residence
at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Padamsee was awarded the Padma Bhushan in
2010.
Akbar Padamsee has held several solo
exhibitions throughout his long and illustrious career in both India and
internationally. He had also
participated in various group exhibitions at the Centre National des Arts Plastiques,
Paris; the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; the Museum of Modern Art,
Oxford and at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. His work has also been
exhibited at the São Paulo Biennale, Tokyo Biennale, and Venice Biennale.
Images
Exhibitions
Ominous Idylls: Group Show March 14 - April 13 , 2024
India Art Fair 2022 April 28 - May 01 , 2022
