Arpana Caur

Arpana Caur is an Indian contemporary painter and graphic artist. Caur focuses on depictions of women's conditions in modern India, life and death, violence, and the environment. Clothing is a recurring theme in her work, in reference to the established image of women.

Early life and education Arpana Caur was born in 1954, in Delhi to a Sikh family who fled the Pakistani West Punjab to the Republic of India in 1947 during the confusion of the partition of British India. Her mother, Ajeet Caur, is a Panjabi-language writer. Caur adopted her first name, Arpana, at the age of fifteen, as an expression of her personal development.

She was exposed to art, music, and literature early in her life. She learned the sitar and wrote poetry, however she enjoyed painting the most. At the age of nine, she made her first oil painting, 'Mother & Daughter', inspired by the works of Amrita Shergil. Caur graduated from the University of Delhi with a Master of Arts degree in literature. She did not obtain formal education in painting, and was largely self taught. However, she received training in etching at the Garhi Studios in New Delhi, which she completed in 1982.

In a 2011 interview with Yashodhara Dalmia, when asked if she considered herself a feminist, Caur stated that she does not, as the themes she incorporates, or is curious about, go beyond gender and are ones that every human is faced with.

Career

Influences and style Caur's paintings draw from events and situations around her, with her work focusing on social issues that highlight the victimized. She has been influenced by existing traditions, namely those from the Gond, Godna, Madhubani, Pahari miniatures (hill-paintings), and folk art forms. Caur's mother's had a strong influence on her, which can be seen in her work, where the woman often occupies a central focus. Her work also draws from Punjabi literature.

Caur's works include watercolour and gauche paintings, and sculptures incorporating motifs, myths, and stories. Throughout her career, she has featured scissors as a motif so frequently that it has earned her the nickname kainchi.

Spirituality, time, life and death are recurring themes throughout her work. Nature and figures play a significant role in her storytelling. She is one of the first contemporary artists to have collaborated with folk artisans.

In 1995, she was commissioned to create the mural 'Tears from Hiroshima' by the Hiroshima Museum of Modern Art, in order to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.

Solo exhibitions + YEAR EXHIBITION DETAILS 2009 Mural on Tiles for outer wall of SAARC Secretariat, Kathmandu 2007 Indigo Blue Gallery, Singapore 2005 Mahua Gallery, Bangalore 2004 Galerie Mueller & Plate, Munich 2003 Academy of Fine Arts and Literature, New Delhi October Gallery, London

1992 Crossing Black Waters

Reviews, articles texts Eddie Chambers, 'Inside Out: Contemporary Women Artists of India', Art Monthly no193, (February 1996) 35-37.

Caur has also been cinematically covered with numerous films and biopics by BBC London, Sidharth Tagore, Chandermani, Doordarshan and Raqs Media.

Awards and honours 2017 B. C. Sanyal award. 2011 Rotary Club of Delhi: The Lifetime Achievement Award for Vocational Excellence 2010 Sikh Art and Film Foundation, New York: The Lifetime Achievement Award 2009 Chief Guest for Conferring B.F.A. degrees, Delhi College of Art Convocation 2007 T.K. Padamini Award, Kerala Govt. 2001 Advisory Committee Member: National Gallery of Modern Art Delhi, Lalit Kala Academy, and Sahitya Kala Parishad 1995–98 Selection Committee member, Republic Day Pageants for Ministry of Defence, Govt. of India 1995 Commissioned by Hiroshima Museum to excite a large work for its permanent collection on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Holocaust 1991–92 Purchase Committee Member, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi 1990–2000 Collaborated with Gonna artist Sat Narain Pandey and for the first time in India, co-signed works with him 1990–02 Jury Member, Republic Day Pageants New Delhi Nominated Eminent Artist by Lalit Kala Academy 1989 Jury Member, National Exhibition, New Delhi 1987 VI Triennele Gold Medal for Painting (International exhibition) 1986 Gold Medal at 6th India Triennale (awarded by the Lalit Kala Akademi) Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh Ethnographic Museum, Stockholm Kunst Museum, Düsseldorf Bradford Museum, Bradford, U.K Glenbarra Museum, Japan Deutsche Bank, Mumbai and Chandigarh Kapany Collection, San Francisco Asian Art Museum, San Francisco Birla Akademi Collection, Calcutta Peabody Essex Museum, Boston Reubens Museum, New York

She is known to have successfully rallied against the felling of trees in New Delhi's Siri forest area during the construction of food courts and restaurants for the 2010 Commonwealth Games Village.

She supports a leprosy home in Ghaziabad in memory of her younger sister. The home also offers vocational training for young girls.