Page 153 - Iconic Master

Lot No. 87

SATISH GUJRAL

1925-2020
UNTITLED
36 x 36 in (76.2 x 76.2 cm)
Mixed media on textured canvas
2018
Signed & Dated: Bottom Right & Verso
` 30,00,000 - 40,00,000 | $ 37,500 - 50,000
Provenance: Property from a collection based in New Delhi

Satish Gujral was an internationally renowned artist,
muralist, sculptor, architect, and writer. In his pursuit
of a distinct Indian artistic identity, free from European
influences, Gujral became recognised as one of the
pioneers of modernism in post-Independence India.
Born in Jhelum, Punjab, in 1925, Gujral spent his
early years immersed in drawing and Urdu literature,
influenced by a hearing disability. In 1939, he enrolled
at the Mayo School of Art in Lahore. A few years later,
in 1944, he joined the Sir J J School of Art in Bombay,
where he encountered the members of the Progressive
Artists’ Group (PAG). However, Gujral rejected the PAG’s
brand of modernism, which drew heavily on European
aesthetics and techniques, and instead sought a more
traditional Indian artistic identity.
In 1952, Gujral was awarded a scholarship to study
at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, where he
apprenticed under the famous muralists Diego Rivera
and David Alfaro Siqueiros, both pioneers of the muralist
movement. Inspired by their work, Gujral began creating
large fresco murals and was frequently commissioned to
produce them both in India and abroad.
Over the ensuing decades, Gujral exhibited his
work globally and received numerous national and
international accolades. He was a three-time National
Award winner for painting and sculpture, and in 1999
was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan, India’s
second-highest civilian award. The Belgian government
also awarded him the ‘Order of the Crown’ for his design
of the Belgian Embassy in New Delhi, which was later
recognised by an international jury as one of 1000
outstanding buildings of the 20th century.