Rajendra Dhawan was born in 1936. He studied at the Delhi College of Art from 1953-58; from 1964-66 he studied at Belgrade, Yugoslavia. He had founded a group — "The Unknown" which held shows from 1960-64. In Europe he has had exhibitions in Luxembourg, Germany, Norway, Belgrade, and at the Gallery Haut-Pave, Paris.
Rajendra Dhawan’s style has a very different strand - subtlety brought out of the minimal. Unlike the cool, western Minimalist ways, his delves into the understated emotive pitch. The expansive stretches of on apparently indistinct and restricted pigments coexist there with rough, abbreviated linear strokes. Between the blurred, as though coarsely scraped surfaces and the lines which nervously shape up to dissolve again, finely nuanced notations arise where intimate feelings come in touch with intuitions from external phenomena.
His work is represented in several collections in India and France , including the National Gallery of Modern Art, Lalit Kala Akademi, Bharat Bhavan Museum and National Foundation of Contemporary Art , Paris. He lived and worked in Paris since 1970.
Rajendra Dhawan passed away in 2012.
Education
1960-62 Belgrade Institute of Art
1953-1958 Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2011 Gallery Threshold, New Delhi
2006 Aryan Art Gallery, New Delhi
2005 Bodhi Art Gallery, New Delhi, Singapore, Mumbai
2004 Gallery White Elephant, Paris
2002 Talwar Gallery, New York
2001 Gallery Seven, Mumbai
1998 Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
1995 Galerie L’lf, Elne, France
1994 Gallery Phillippe Bouakia, Paris
1993 Gallery La Pardalere, Nantes
1990 Gallery Francois, Paris
1988 Eine Gallery La Pardalare
1981 Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi
1974 Gallery due Haut-Pave, Paris and Dhoomimal Art Gallery, New Delhi
1973 Gallery Horn, Luxembourg
1972 Gallery du Haut-Pave, Paris
1968 All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi and Gallery Pundole, Mumbai
1968 Gallery Silpi Chakra, New Delhi
1964 ‘The Unknown’, All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi
Selected Group Exhibitions
2012 'One Eye Sees, the Other Feels', The Viewing Room, Mumbai
2011 'The Lost Sparrow', presented by Gallery Threshold at Visual Art Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
2010 'Besides Paris', Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata
2009 'Progressive to Altermodern: 62 Years of Indian Modern Art', Grosvenor Gallery, London
2009 'Deep In Black', Galerie Muller and Plate, Munich
2002 Five Indian Painters, France
1996 Six Biennale des Art Competition
1995 Three Biennale des Gravures, Bhopal
1994 Realites Nouvelles, Paris
1994 FIAC, Paris
1993 Galerie Anti-Reflet, Nantes, France
1992 Sens ‘A Voix Basse Galerie Le Temps de Voir Salons
1991 Paravents Galerie Le Temps de Voir Salons
1991 Salon Decouverte, Paris
1990 Galerie Francois Mitaine, Paris
1989 Gallery Chemould, Mumbai
1989 Galerie Dhoomimal, New Delhi
1989 Galerie du Haut-Pave, Paris
1989 ‘Artistes Indiens a Paris’, Galerie du Cygne, France
1988 Galerie Galerie La Pardalere, Elne, France
1985 ‘Artists Indiensen France’, Center National des Arts Plastique, Paris
1987 35 Aniversary de la Galerie du Haut-Pav’e, Gallery du Cygne, Paris
1975 Galerie Horn, Luxembourg
1973 Cite Internationale dos Arts
1973 Galerie Horn, Luxembourg
1972-73 Paris Cite Internationals dos Arts Plastiques
1971 ‘Dix Peintres’, Paris
1970 Gallery Triveni, New Delhi
1969 Galerie Kunika, New Delhi
1968 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1965 ‘Cinq PeintresIndiens’, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Belgrade
1964 ‘Exposition de Painters IndiensOrganisee par L, Ambassade des EtatsUnis a’ Roosevelt’s House
1960 ‘Nine Painters’, All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi
1958 ‘Seven Painters’, All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi
Participations
2008-09 ‘Expanding Horizons: Contemporary Indian Art’, Travelling Exhibition presented by Bodhi Art at Ravinder Natya Mandir, P.L.Despande Kala Academy Art Gallery, Mumbai; Sant DyaneshwarNatyaSankul Art Gallery, Amravati; Platinum Jubilee Hall, Nagpur; TapadiaNatya Mandir Sports Hall, Aurangabad; HirachandNemchandVachanalay’s, Solapur; Acharya VidyanandSanskrutik Bhavan, Kolhapur; PGSR Sabhagriha, SNDT, Pune; SarvajanikVachanalaya Hall, Nasik
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