Akbar Padamsee

Akbar Padamsee (12 April 1928 – 6 January 2020) was an Indian artist and painter, considered one of the pioneers in modern Indian painting along with S.H. Raza, F.N. Souza and M.F. Husain.

He was awarded the Lalit Kala Akademi Fellowship (Lalit Kala Ratna) by the Lalit Kala Akademi, India's National Academy of Arts, in 2004, the Kalidas Samman from the Madhya Pradesh Government in 1997 for Plastic Arts and the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour in 2010.

Early life and family

Padamsee was born into a traditional Khoja Muslim family hailing from the Kutch region of Gujarat.

Padamsee's father, Hassan Padamsee, was an affluent businessman who owned 10 buildings and also ran a glassware and furniture business. His mother, Jenabhai Padamsee, was a home-maker. Akbar Padamsee was one of their eight children; one of his brothers is the actor Alyque Padamsee. Although rich, the family was not well-educated, and neither of his parents had received much education. Alyque and his brothers (but not his sisters) were the first to attend school and learn English there; the parents later picked up a smattering of the language from their sons.

Early in life, he started copying images from The Illustrated Weekly of India magazine in his father's accounts books at their store on Chakla Street, in South Mumbai.

He had a number of siblings, but the most notable of them is Alyque Padamsee, who was a celebrated theatre personality & advertising mogul who headed the Lintas Bombay Ad agency.

In the last years of his life, Padamsee and his wife Bhanu are reported to have moved into the Isha Yoga Center, Coimbatore permanently, after having visited the centre a few times several years ago.

Career In late 1950, Raza was awarded a French government scholarship, and he invited Padamsee to accompany him to Paris. Padamsee left for Paris in 1951, where artist Krishna Reddy introduced him to the surrealist Stanley Hayter, who became his next mentor. Padmasee soon joined his studio, "Atelier 17". His first exhibition was held in Paris in 1952. The artists exhibited anonymously, thus he shared the prize awarded by the French magazine Journal d'Arte with the painter Jean Carzou.

Filmmaking

Between 1969 and 1970, Akbar Padamsee, one of the pioneers of Modern Indian painting, made a rare 16mm experimental film titled Syzygy. This was a silent animation film made up solely of lines and dots and the connections between them. This film was made using a code or algorithm and can now be seen as an early example of generative art. The word syzygy is often used to describe interesting configurations of astronomical objects in general. With its attempt at pure form, it is also a precursor to computer art or digital art, despite being entirely hand-made.

After just a handful of screenings in 1970, the film was shipped to an art expo in New Delhi where it was misplaced. The reversal print is now lost and no copies exist.

Publications Padamsee, Padamsee, Text by Shamlal, Published by Pundole Art Gallery`, 2004 Padamsee, Works on Paper-Critical Boundaries, Text by Shamlal, Published by Vakils & Sons, 1964 Padamsee, Work in language, Marg/Pundole gallery, 372 p, 348 ill; Mumbai 2009, Padamsee, Works and Words, film by Laurent Brégeat, 55mn, Lalit Kala Akademi, 2010

Selected solo exhibitions

2010 'Body Parts', The Loft, Mumbai 2010 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai 2008 'Sensitive Surfaces', Galerie Helene Lamarque, Paris 2007 'Metascape to Humanscape', Aicon Gallery, Palo Alto 2006 Metascape to Humanscape', Aicon Gallery, New York 2006 Photographs (2004–06), Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai 2005 Gallery Threshold and the French Embassy in India, New Delhi 2004 Retrospective of Watercolors, Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai 2003 'Critical Boundaries', Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai 2002 'Drawing Show', Gallery Chemould, Mumbai 2002 'Tertiaries', Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai 1999 'Compugraphics', Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai and Art Heritage, New Delhi 1997 'Imaging Gandhi', Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai 1996 'Female Nudes', Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai 1994 'Mirror Images', Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai 1993 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai 1993 'Heads', Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore 1992 Art Heritage, New Delhi 1992 Sanskriti Art Gallery, Kolkata 1988 Art Heritage, New Delhi and Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai 1986 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai 1980 Retrospective of works organised by Art Heritage, New Delhi and Mumbai 1981 Urja Gallery, Baroda 1975 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai 1974 'Metascapes', Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai 1972 'Metascapes', Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai 1967 Museum of Contemporary Art, Montreal 1963 Gallery '63, New York 1962 Kunika Chemould Art Centre, New Delhi 1960 Painting in Grey, Gallery '59, Mumbai 1957 Galerie de Ventadour, France 1954 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai 1953 Gallery Raymond Creure, Paris 1952 Galerie Saint Placide, Paris

Selected group exhibitions

2010 'The Progressives & Associates', Grosvenor Gallery, London 2010 'Masters of Maharashtra', collection from Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi at Piramal Gallery, National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai 2010 'Master's Corner', organised by Indian Contemporary Art Journal at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai; India International Art Fair, New Delhi 2010 'Manifestations IV', Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi 2010 'From Miniature to Modern: Traditions in Transition', Rob Dean Art, London in association with Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai 2010 'Figure/Landscape – Part One', Aicon Gallery, New York 2010 'Contemporary Printmaking In India', presented by Priyasri Art Gallery, Mumbai at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai; Priyasri Art Gallery, Mumbai 2010 'Black is Beautiful', India Fine Art, Mumbai 2010 'Black and White', Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Mumbai 2010 'Art Celebrates 2010', represented by Gallery Threshold at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi to coincide with the hosting of the Commonwealth Games 2009 'Think Small', Art Alive Art Gallery, New Delhi 2009 'Sacred and Secular', India Fine Art, Mumbai 2009 'Progressive to Altermodern: 62 Years of Indian Modern Art', Grosvenor Gallery, London 2009 'Miniature Format Show 2009 – IInd Part', Sans Tache Gallery, Mumbai 2009 'Indian Art After Independence: Selected Works from the Collections of Virginia & Ravi Akhoury and Shelley & Donald Rubin', Emile Lowe Gallery, Hempstead 2009 'Bharat Ratna! Jewels of Modern Indian Art', Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 2008–09 'Expanding Horizons: Contemporary Indian Art’, Traveling Exhibition presented by Bodhi Art at Ravinder Natya Mandir, P.L. Despande Kala Academy Art Gallery, Mumbai; Sant Dyaneshwar Natya Sankul Art Gallery, Amravati; Platinum Jubilee Hall, Nagpur; Tapadia Natya Mandir Sports Hall, Aurangabad; Hirachand Nemchand Vachanalay's, Solapur; Acharya Vidyanand Sanskrutik Bhavan, Kolhapur; PGSR Sabhagriha, SNDT, Pune; Sarvajanik Vachanalaya Hall, Nasik 2008 'Harvest 2008', organised by Arushi Arts at The Stainless Gallery, New Delhi 2008 'Faces', Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai 2008 ‘The Miniature Format Show – Part I’, Sans Tache, Mumbai 2008 ‘Freedom 2008 – Sixty Years of Indian Independence’, Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata 2007–08 ‘India Art Now: Between Continuity and Transformation’, Province of Milan, Milan, Italy 2007 ‘Winter Show’, Aicon Gallery, Palo Alto 2006 'Drawing Show an Act of Art II', Priyasri Art Gallery, Mumbai 2006 Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA) Gallery, Kolkata 2006 ‘Shadow Lines’, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi 2005 Gallery Threshold, New Delhi 2005 Contemporary Indian Art, Nehru Center, London 2005 ‘Visions of Landscape’, Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai 2004 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai 2004 ‘Concept and Form’, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi 2004 ‘Anticipations’, Fine Arts Resource, Mumbai 2002 'Words and Images', Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai 2002 Saffronart and Pundole Gallery, New York 2001 Saffronart and Pundole Gallery, New York 2001 'Engendering Images of a Woman', Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai 2000 'Rare Collection' Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai 1999 'Creative Process', Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai 1998 'Drawings', Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai 1997 Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai 1997 ’50 Years of Indian Art’, Mohile Parikh Centre for Visual Arts (MPCVA), Mumbai 1996 ‘Modern & Contemporary Paintings: One Hundred Years’, London 1995 Indian Contemporary Paintings, London 1994 ‘Mirror-Image Series’, Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai 1993 Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai 1993 Reflections & Images, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai 1992 Sanskrit Art Gallery, Kolkata 1992 Group Show with Laxman Shreshtha & Jogen Chowdhury, Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai 1991 ‘State of the Art’ First Computer Art Show in Mumbai, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai 1991 ‘National Exhibition of Contemporary Art’, National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), New Delhi 1990 Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai 1989 'Timeless Art', Mumbai 1988 Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai 1987 Festival of India in USS.R, Moscow 1985 Indian Artists in France 1985 'Artistes Indiens en France' Foundation Nationale des Arts Graphiques et Plastiques, Paris 1984 Contemporary Indian Painters, Raj Bhavan, Mumbai. Organized by Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai 1982 'Contemporary Indian Art', Festival of India, Royal Academy of Art, London 1981 Indian Painting Today, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai 1981 'India: Myth & Reality – Aspects of Modern Indian Art’ Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), Oxford 1979 ‘Focus’, Gallery Chemould, Mumbai 1968 Indian Triennale, New Delhi 1963 Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy 1963 Gallery '63, New York 1963 3rd Paris Biennale, Paris 1961 2nd Paris Biennale, Paris 1959 Tokyo Biennale, Japan 1959 São Paulo Biennale, Brazil 1958 ‘Seven Indian Painters’, Gallery One, London 1955 Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy 1953 Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy 1953 Galerie Raymond Creuse, Paris 1952 Galerie Saint – Placide, Paris Participations

Honours and awards 2004 - Lalit Kala Ratna, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi 1997–98 - Kalidas Samman by the Madhya Pradesh Government 1969 - Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship 1967 - Artist in Residence, Stout State University, Wisconsin 1965 - J.D. Rockefeller IIIrd Fund, Fellowship