Saryu Doshi

Saryu Vinod Doshi is an Indian art scholar, art historian, academic and curator, known for her erudition in Indian miniature paintings and Jain art. She is the founder director of the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai and a former pro-tem chairman of the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi. She is the author of several books including Masterpieces of Jain Painting, a monograph on selected Jain art pieces. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian award of the Padma Shri, in 1999.

Biography Saryu Doshi was born in Mumbai, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra and did her schooling at Queen Mary School, Mumbai. Later, she graduated from the Elphinstone College and secured a diploma in Arts from the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art before marrying Vinod Doshi, an industrialist from the Walchand Industrial Group and the son of Lalchand Hirachand, who founded the Hindustan Aeronautics. Though she stayed in Satara after the marriage, she visited Mumbai on a regular basis to keep in touch with the art circle of Mumbai. In 1972, she received the fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation and pursued research on Indian miniature art and Jain art, for which she received a doctoral degree (PhD).

In 1996, Doshi was among the art enthusiasts who founded the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai and served as the founder director of the institution. and is a former editor of non-profit publishing house of Marg, which published several of her books. Besides Masterpieces of Jain Painting, she has also published three other monographs, namely, Dances of Manipur: The Classical Tradition, on Manipuri dance, Dharna Vihara, Ranakpur, about the ancient Jain temples of Rajasthan and Homage to Shravana Belgola, about the ancient Jain pilgrim centre. Goa Cultural Patterns, Shivaji and Facets of Maratha Culture, A Collector's Dream : Indian Art in the Collections of Basant Kumar and Saraladevi Birla and the Birla Academy of Art and Culture, The Indian Woman, Homage to Karnataka, Symbols and Manifestations of Indian Art, Continuity and Change: Festival of India in Great Britain, An age of splendour: Islamic art in India, India and Greece, connections and parallels, India and Egypt: Influences and Interactions, Tribal India: Ancestors, Gods, and Spirits, India: Week by Week (Kerala), Images and Tradition - Festival of India in Great Britain (Volume XXXVI) and Pageant of Indian Art: Festival of India in Great Britain are her other publications. She is a member of the advisory council of the India chapter of the Asia Society and has travelled extensively to deliver keynote addresses at several seminars in Europe, US, Africa and Asia. She has also given talks on BBC and All India Radio.