• Krishen Khanna

    Krishen Khanna was born in Lyalpur, Punjab in the year 1925.

    In 1947, Khanna’s family moved to Shimla as a result of the Partition of India and Pakistan, and Khanna was deeply affected by not only the change in his personal life, but also the socio-political chaos that reigned around him. His early works are reproductions of the scenes that were indelibly imprinted in his memory during this period.

    Most of Khanna’s work is figurative; he chose to not explore the abstraction that most of his contemporaries were delving into. Bordering on the narrative, Khanna’s work captures moments in history, much like photographs do, but the artist’s technique is far from photo-realist. Khanna transfers his observations onto the canvas with spontaneity and exuberance, keeping the representational elements of his subject matter intact. The artist’s use of colour and his expressionist brushwork make the mundane rise to the challenge of the creative.

  • Education

    • Self taught artist
    • 1940 Imperial Service College, Windsor, England
    • Punjab University, Lahore

  • Exibitions

    Selected Solo Exhibitions

    • 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

    Selected Group Exhibitions

    • 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', Kunika Chemould, 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', Kunika Chemould, 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 York
    • 1963 '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

    Joint Exhibitions

    • 1985 Ram Kumar and Krishen Khanna , 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

    Krishen Khanna lives and works in New Delhi.