In 1951 he became a lecturer at the Faculty of Fine Arts in M.S. University in Baroda. His contribution helped Faculty of Fine Arts MSU Vadodara to gain Nationalist movement in Arts. He went to study briefly in London at the Slade School of Art as a British Council scholar in 1956. While having already gone back to Baroda as a professor in painting and continuing there, he did a short stint in New York as a Rockefeller Fellow in 1966.[9] In 1980, Subramanyan went back to Santiniketan to teach in his alma mater Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharati University, in his capacity as a professor in painting, which he continued till he retired in 1989. In the same year, he was made a Professor Emeritus of Visva Bharati.
Subramanyan resided in Baroda, with his daughter Uma, towards the later days of his life and it was here that he died on 29 June 2016.[2]
Artistic styles and Influencesedit
K.G. Subramanyan was greatly influenced by folk art from Kerala, Kalighat painting and Pattachitra from Bengal and Odisha, as well as Indian court paintings.
Retrospective showedit
There have been numerous retrospective shows of K.G. Subramanyan.
K.G. Subramanyan, a Retrospective was the fourth and largest, curated by R. Siva Kumar at the National Gallery of Modern Art.[10]
Careeredit
From 1951 to 59 Mr. Subramanyan was the Lecturer in Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda. He was the British Council Research Scholar, UK from 1955–56. He was Deputy Director (design), All India Handloom Board, Bombay from 1959 to 61 and Reader in Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda from 1961 to 65.
1966–80 Professor of Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda
1961–66 Design Consultant, All India
1966–67 Fellowship of The JDR III Fund, New York
1968–74 Dean, Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda
1975 Elected to the World Crafts Council
Delegate, Asian Assembly, World Craft Council, Sydney
1976 Member delegate, General Assembly, World Craft Council, Oaxtepec, Mexico
Visiting lecturer, Canadian universities: Montreal, Ottawa, Hamilton
1977–78 Visiting Fellow, Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharati, Santiniketan
1980–89 Professor of Painting, Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharati, Santiniketan
1985 Guest, Chinese Artists Association, China
1987–88 Christensen Fellow, St. Catherine’s College, Oxford
1989 Professor Emeritus, Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharati, Santiniketan
2004 Left Santiniketan and shifted back to Baroda in September.
1981–84 Member of the All India Handloom and Handicrafts Board
He has also been on the Board of studies of M.S. University, Baroda; Benaras Hindu University, Benaras; Punjab University, Chandigarh; College of Fine Arts, Trivadrum, Kerala; Faculty of Fine Arts, Bombay University; Rabindra Bharati University, Calcutta etc. and a
member of the Editorial advisory Board of Leonardo.
Booksedit
1978 Moving Focus: Essays on Indian Art, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi. (Reissued by Seagull Books, Calcutta in 2006)
1987 The Living Tradition, Seagull Books, Calcutta
1992 The Creative Circuit, Seagull Books, Calcutta
2006 Translation of Benodebehari Mukherjee’s Chitrakar, Seagull Books, Calcutta
2007 Poems, Seagull Books, Calcutta
2007 The Magic of Making: Essays on Art and Culture, Seagull Books, Calcutta
Illustrated booksedit
1969 When God First Made the Animals He Made Them All Alike
1972 The Butterfly and the Cricket, A Summer Story, Robby
1974 Our Friends the Ogres, The King and the Little Man
1979 How Poppy Grew happy, Cat’s Night and Day, Frog Life is Fun Life
1985 Of Ogres Beasts and Men (When God First Made the Animals He Made Them All Alike, Our Friends the Ogres, and The King and the Little Man reissued as a boxed set)
1995 How Hanu Became Hanuman, Death in Eden, In the Zoo (All three reissued in 1996)
1998 The Tale of the Talking Face
Muralsedit
1955 Jyoti Ltd., Baroda Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda
1963 ‘King of the Dark Chamber’, Rabindralaya, Lucknow
1965 India Pavilion, New York World Fair, New York
1969 ‘India of my Dreams Pavilion’, Gandhi Darshan, New Delhi
1976 R & D Building, Jyoti Pvt. Ltd., Baroda
1988 Sand cast Cement Mural, Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan
1989 Reverse painting on Glass Mural (with school children), Santiniketan
1990 Black and White Mural, Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan (first phase)
1993 Black and White Mural, Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan (second phase)
2009 Black and White Mural, Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan (2nd version)
^Tuli, N. (2004). Masterpieces & museum quality III: Indian contemporary paintings with rare books & vintage film memorabilia. OSIAN's. ISBN 9781890206703. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
^ ab"Modern art pioneer KG Subramanyan, 92, passes away in Vadodara on 29 June". First Post. 29 June 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
^"His name is listed as Baroda Group of Artists' fifth annual exhibition of paintings by". Asia Art Archive.
^"Padma Awards". pib. 27 January 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
^CHOPRA, SUNEET (8 May 2003). "The quintessential Indian artist". Frontline. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
^Tuli, N. (2002). Masterpieces and museum-quality Indian modern & contemporary paintings. Osian's. ISBN 9788190124751. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
^Subramanyan, K.G. (1999). Sketches, Scribbles, Drawings. Seagull Books. ISBN 9788170461500. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
^ ab"K.G. Subramanyam". contemporaryindianart.com. Archived from the original on 18 October 2013. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
^"K. G. Subramanyam". contemporaryindianart.com. Archived from the original on 18 October 2013. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
^"The quintessential Indian artist". frontline.in. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
^ abc"Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
^"K G Subramanyan awarded Savyasachi Award". The Times of India. 28 June 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
External linksedit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to K. G. Subramanyan.