Page 137 - AstaGuru Masters Legacy April 2024

Lot No. 37

KRISHEN KHANNA
b. 1925

GENTLEMEN OF THE BAND
36 x 24 in (91.4 x 61 cm)
Oil on canvas
Circa 2000
Signed: Bottom Right

` 20,00,000 - 30,00,000 | $ 24,390 - 36,585

Provenance: Property from a collection based
in Mumbai.

Krishen Khanna, born in 1925, in Lyallpur, now
Faislabad, Pakistan is a self-taught artist. He
completed his B. A. honours from the Government
College, Lahore. He studied art at the Imperial
Service College in England after receiving the
Rudyard Kipling Scholarship in 1938. Khanna’s
family migrated to Shimla, India after the communal
riots. Many of his early works reflect these scenes
and the chaos’s effect on the artist’s personal life.
In 1948, he worked as an officer in Grindlay’s Bank,
Mumbai. During this period, he became friends with
S. B. Palsikar and F. N. Souza. Followed by becoming a
member of the Progressive Artists’ Group and getting
acquainted with other artists like M. F. Husain, S. H.
Raza, K. H. Ara, and more.

After 14 years of service as a banker, he resigned to
pursue art full-time. The artist’s creations brought
India international recognition after Khanna
participated in exhibitions like the Tokyo Biennial
(1957), the Sao Paulo Biennial (1960), and the
Venice Biennial in 1962. The Government of
India appreciated his contribution to Indian art by
bestowing several honors, including the Lalit Kala
Ratna Award in 2004, Padma Shri in 1990, and the
Padma Bhushan in 2011. Khanna continues to work
and lives in New Delhi.