One of the most versatile modernists of our times, Krishen Khanna is known the world over for an artistic idiom that is structurally rooted in the aesthetics of European modernism but its subject matter takes direct inspiration from the harsh socio-political reality of the artist’s times.
Krishen Khanna was born in in 1925 in Lyallpur ( now known as Faisalabad, Pakistan ). A largely self taught artist, he attended Imperial Service College in Windsor , England in 1940. The artist’s family shifted to India at the time of partition. Hanna arrived in Bombay in 1948 where he began a career in banking . In Bombay, he was invited to be a part of the now famous Progressive Artists’ Group. The first exhibition in which Khanna’s works were featured was one of the group’s exhibitions held in 1949. In 1955, he had his first solo show in Chennai and since then, he has been widely exhibiting in India and abroad.
One of the major turning points in Krishen Khanna’s life was the eyar 1961 when he left his 14 years of stint with banking to become a full time artist. With a Rockfeller Fellowship, he travelled to Japan in 1962 where he created a body of works with ink on rice paper, inspired by an ancient form of Chinese calligraphy.
In Krishan Khanna’s works, there is no schizophrenia, no masochism, no surreal fancy- flights, no banal political comment, real or simulated. Bereft of any mannered stance or attitudinising, his paintings have the directness of reportage. However, the familiar threshold is only to lure the viewer into a world of classical restraint and grace. There is a refinement of the soul in Krishan Khanna which makes his figures eloquent and retrieves their dignity on the canvas from the throes of a dehumanising reality.
Krishen Khanna was felicitated with a Padmashri in 1990. He lives and works in New Delhi.
Education
Self taught artist
1940 Imperial Service College, Windsor, England
Punjab University, Lahore
Exhibitions
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2016 'Krishen Khanna: Drawings & Paintings', Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
2015 'When the band begins to play...', Grosvenor Gallery, London
2013 'A Celebration of Lines', Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai
2010 'Krishen Khanna: A Retrospective', presented by Saffronart, Mumbai at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
2008 'The Savage Heart', Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai
2005 Saffronart and Berkeley Square Gallery, London
2004 'An Airing' Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai
2001 Kumar Art Gallery, New Delhi
2001 Saffronart and Pundole Art Gallery, New York
1995 Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai
1994 Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
1991 Gallery Espace, New Delhi
1989 Centre for Contemporary Art, New Delhi.
1986 Exhibition of drawings and paintings at Sarla Art Centre, Chennai
1983 Exhibition of drawings, Garhi Studio, New Delhi
1980 Rabindra Bhavan, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1979 Dhoomimal Art Gallery, New Delhi
1975 Dhoomimal Art Gallery, New Delhi
1974 Black Partridge, New Delhi
1973 Pundole Gallery, Mumbai
1969 Photographs, Kunika-Chemould, New Delhi
1969 Experimental Photographs, Pundole Gallery, Mumbai
1966 Kumar Art Gallery, New Delhi
1965 Egan Gallery, New York
1964 Kumar Art Gallery, New Delhi
1964 Watkins Art Gallery, American University, Washington D.C.
1962 Kunika Art Centre
1962 Leicester Galleries, London
1961 Ashoka Gallery, Kolkata
1961 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1960 Kumar Art Gallery, New Delhi
1960 Leicester Galleries, London
1959 Kumar Gallery, New Delhi
1958 Kumar Gallery, New Delhi
1957 All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi
1955 USIS, Chennai
SelectedGroupExhibitions
2013 'Ideas of the Sublime', presented by Vadehra Art Gallery at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
2013 'Edge of Reason- and beyond, into pure creativity', presented by Indian Art Circle at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
2013 'The Discerning Eye: Modern Masters', Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
2012 'Talking Heads', Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi
2011 'The Art of Drawing', The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai
2011 'Masterclass', Dhoomimal Art Gallery, New Delhi
2010-11 'A Collection', Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai
2010 Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai
2010 '10 x 10', Gallery Threshold, New Delhi 2010 'Black is Beautiful', India Fine Art, Mumbai
2010 'Essential, Eclectic,...Ephemeral', The Harrington Mansions, Kolkata
2009 'Bharat Ratna! Jewels of Modern Indian Art', Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
2009 'Master Class', The Arts Trust, Mumbai
2009 'Sacred and Secular', India Fine Art, Mumbai
2009 'Kalpana: Figurative Art in India', presented by The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) at Aicon Gallery, London; The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR)
2008 'Faces', Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai
2008 'Baisakh 08', Polka Art Gallery, New Delhi
2004 ‘Concept and Form’, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
2003 Exhibition of drawings, Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai
2003 Transition at UBS in London
2003 'Of Memories, Dreams, Reverses', at Anant, New Delhi
2001 'Living Legends of Indian Contemporary Art', Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai
2001 'In Conversations', Gallery Espace, New Delhi
2001 Indian Art Circle, Habitat Centre, New Delhi
2001 Saffronart and Pundole Art Gallery, New York
1999 'Mahabharat', Gallery 7, Mumbai
1998 'The Probing Eye', an exhibition of Photographs, Surendra Paul Art Gallery, New Delhi
1998 'Drawings', Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai
1997 'Tryst with Destiny', Art from Modern India 1947-1997, Singapore Art Museum, organized by Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata
1997 'Six Modern Masters', Kumar Gallery, New Delhi
1996 Modern and Contemporary Indian Paintings, Sothebys Auction, London
1996 'A Tree in my Life', Village Gallery, New Delhi
1996 'The Moderns', Inaugural Exhibition, National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai
1996 'The Mahabharata, The Card Player and The Scribe’, Kumar Gallery, New Delhi
1995 'Indian Contemporary Paintings', Christie's Auction, London
1995 'Bombay', presented by RPG Enterprises
1995 'River of Art', Inaugural Exhibition, Art Today 1994 'Indian Drawing Today', All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), organized by Gallery Espace, New Delhi
1994 'The Solids', second Indian Drawing Biennale, exhibited as a special invitee
1993 'Reflections and Images', Vadhera and Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1992 'Masters of Indian Art', Hotel Intercontinental, Mumbai
1991 'Remembering Kali Pundole', Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai
1991 Birla Academy of Art, Anniversary Exhibition , Kolkata
1991 'Addressing Gandhi', traveling exhibition by Sahmat
1989 'Timeless Art', Exhibition and Auction
1989 Sothebys in Mumbai
1989 'Artist's Alert', exhibition and auction by Sahmat, New Delhi
1984 Inaugural Exhibition, Gallery 7, Mumbai
1982 'Modern Indian Painters' Hirschhorn Museum, Washington D. C.
1982 'Contemporary Indian Art', Burlington House, London
1982 'Myth and Reality', Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK
1981 Inaugural Exhibition, Roopankar Museum, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal
1981 'Indian Painting Today', Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1979 'Modern Asian Art', Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan
1976 'Pictorial Space', Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1976 'Indian Painting 1977', Chandigarh, organized by Black Partridge Gallery
1972 'Art Now', KunikaChemould, New Delhi
1972 'One World through Art', Ben and Abbey Grey Foundation, St. Paul, MN, USA
1971 'Contemporary Indian Art', Renwick Gallery
1971 Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C.
1970 'Art Now', KunikaChemould, New Delhi
1969 'Contemporary Art, Dialogue between East and West', Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
1969 'Indian Painters 69', Max Mueller Bhavan & Birla Academy, Kolkata
1968 New Art Centre, London
1966 Lincoln Centre, New York
1965 'Ten Contemporary Artists from India' University of South Florida, Tampa; Jackson Art Museum, Jacksonville; Delgado Art Museum, New Orleans; Hunter Gallery, Chattanooga; Colorado Fine Art Center, Colorado Springs, Long Beach; Art Institute, San Francisco; East Wing Center, Honolulu
1965 'Ten Contemporary Painters from India' MIT, Cambridge; New Jersey State Museum, Trenton.
1964 'Six Artists in Black and White', Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi
1963 'Contemporary Painters from India', Gallery 63, New York1963 'Eight Contemporary Artists from India', Lever House, New York
1959 'Artists of Fame and of Promise', Leicester Galleries, London
1959 'Trends in Contemporary Painting from India', Graham Gallery, New York
1959 'Modern Indian Art', Cairo
1959 'Contemporary Art from India', Essen, Dortmund, Zurich
1959 Inaugural Exhibition, Gallery 59, Mumbai
1956 'Eight Painters', Indian and Eastern Newspaper Society Building, New Delhi
1952-53 Progressive Artists at Madras College of Art, Chennai
1949 Progressive Artist Group, Chetna Restaurant, Mumbai
1949 Progressive Artist Group, Artists Aid Centre
JointExhibitions
1985 Ram Kumar and KrishenKhanna , Gallery 7, Mumbai
1954 With M F Husain at All India Fine Arts and Crafts society (AIFACS), New Delhi
Participations
2015 'Abby Grey and Indian Modernism: Selections from the NYU Art Collection', Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York
2014 'Ode to Monumental: Celebration, Visuality, Ideology', presented by Saffronart at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi and Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
2012 'Synergy 2012', 12th Anniversary Show, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai
2012 'Crossings: Time Unfolded, Part 2', Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), New Delhi
2011 'Ethos V: Indian Art Through the Lens of History (1900 to 1980), Indigo Blue Art, Singapore
2011 ‘Manifestations V', Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
2011 'Roots in the Air, Branches Below: Modern & Contemporary Art from India', San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose
2011 'Time Unfolded', Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), New Delhi
2011 'Celebration 2011', Annual Exhibition, Kumar Art Gallery, New Delhi
2010 'Art Celebrates 2010: Sports and the City', represented by Art Alive Gallery at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi to coincide with the hosting of the Commonwealth Games
2010 'Master’s Corner', organized by Indian Contemporary Art Journal at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai; India International Art Fair, New Delhi
2010 'Contemporary Printmaking In India', presented by Priyasri Art Gallery, Mumbai at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai; Priyasri Art Gallery, Mumbai
2010 'Evolve: 10th Anniversary Show', Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai
2010 Annual Exhibition, Chawla Art Gallery, New Delhi
2008-09 'Paz Mandala', Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
2008 'Harvest 2008', organized by Arushi Arts at The Stainless Gallery, New Delhi
1991 The Fifth Biennale, Havana Cuba
1988 First International Biennale, Lahore, Pakistan
1988 Festival of India, Japan
1987 Festival of India, USSR
1987 'Coups de Coeur', Geneva
1986 Baghdad International Festival of Art
1982 International Triennale, New Delhi
1976 25th Pugwash Conference, Chennai
1975 3rd Triennale of Contemporary World Art, New Delhi 1970 Expo '70, Indian Pavilion, Osaka, Japan
1968 International Triennale, New Delhi
1965 Annual Exhibition, Lalit Kala Akademi , New Delhi
1962 National Exhibition, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1962 Venice Biennale, Indian Participation
1961 Tokyo Biennale
1960 Sao Paulo Biennale
1957 Tokyo Biennale
1946 Annual Exhibition, Punjab Art Society
Honours and Awards
2011 Padma Bhushan, Government of India
2004 Lalit Kala Ratna from The President of India
1997 Kala Ratna, All India Fine Arts & Crafts Society(AIFACS), New Delhi
1990 Padma Shri, Government of India
1989 Gold Medal, First International Biennale of Art, Lahore, Pakistan
1989 Sahitya Kala Parishad Award, New Delhi
1986 Presidents Award at Baghdad International Festival of Art
1965 Award, Lalit Kala Akademi Annual Exhibition, New Delhi
1965 Fellowship of the Council for Economic and Cultural Affairs, New York
1964 Artist–in-Residence, American University, Washington DC.
1962-63 Fellowship Rockefeller Council, New York
1962 Travel Fellowship by Council for Economic and Cultural Affairs, New York
1955 Commendation, Bombay Art Society Award, Mumbai
1955 Saurashtra Government Award for Oil Painting
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