KRISHEN KHANNA
Akara Modern
1925
Krishen
Khanna was born in pre-partition Punjab in 1925 and grew up in Lahore. He
studied at the Imperial Service College, England as a Rudyard Kipling scholar.
Upon his return to Lahore, Khanna enrolled in a course in English literature at
the Government College and began evening classes at the Mayo School of Art.
Before his move to Shimla, he worked as a printer at the Kapur Art Press,
Lahore.
As a
painter, his work weaves images out of the fragments of time, where he narrates
the accumulation of his everyday experiences. A largely self-taught artist,
Khanna’s art interprets the traumas of the partition and the grave impact that
it had on his life. His works critique the socio-political ideas that impacted
life around him. Having friendly relationship with the Progressive Artists
Group- Husain, Souza and Raza, in the late 1940’s, he began to exhibit his
works with the Progressives at the Jehangir Art Gallery and at the Bombay Art
Society.
Krishen
Khanna was awarded the Rockefeller fellowship in 1962 and was an
artist-in-residence at the American University in Washington from 1963-64. In
1965, he received the National Award from Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, and a
fellowship at the Council of Economics and Cultural Affairs, New York. He
received the Lalit Kala Ratna from the President of India in 2004, the Padma
Shri in 1990, and the Padma Bhushan in 2011.
The artist
lives and works in Delhi.
Images
Exhibitions
Stillness In Motion August 17 - September 18 , 2023
