Avinash Chandra (28 August 1931 – 15 September 1991) was an Indian painter, who lived and worked in the United Kingdom.

Early life and education

Avinash Chandra was born on 28 August 1931 in

Shimla Shimla, also known as Simla ( the official name until 1972), is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summer capital of British India. After independence, the city ...

, India, and was brought up there and in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

. His father was the manager of the Cecil hotel in Delhi. His family wanted him to study engineering and for the first six months after enrolling at Delhi Polytechnic Art School, his family did not know he was studying art. Chandra graduated in 1951 with a first class degree in Fine Art and joined the faculty staff. His students include Paramjit Singh,

Arpita Singh Arpita Singh (''née'' Dutta; born 22 June 1937) is an Indian artist. Known to be a figurative artist and a modernist, she made her canvases to have both a story line and a carnival of images arranged in a curiously subversive manner. Her artis ...

and Gopi Gajwani. His 1955 "Snow in Pahalgam" sold for INR 4,375,000. He moved to

Golders Green Golders Green is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet in north London, northwest of Charing Cross. It began as a medieval small suburban linear settlement near a farm and public grazing area green, and dates to the early 19th century. It ...

, London, in 1956, with his first wife, artist Prem Lata Chandra who had been awarded a scholarship to study at the

Central School of Art The Central School of Art and Design was a school of fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School of Arts and Crafts. ...

Awards and recognition

Chandra won first prize at the First National Art Exhibition of Art, in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

, in 1954 and the gold medal in 1962. In 1962 he was featured in a BBC ''

Monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, Wes ...

'' documentary, presented by W.G. Archer, and in 2018 in the BBC documentary ''Whoever Heard of a Black Artist?''. A solo exhibition was held at the Hamilton Galleries in London in 1965. His murals in glass survive in Alexander House, created for the Anglo-Dutch Cigar Company in

Finchley Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. north of Charing Cross, nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, London, Whetstone, Mill Hill and Hendon. It is ...

(1963) and for the

Pilkington Brothers Pilkington is a glass-manufacturing company which is based in Lathom, Lancashire, England. It includes several legal entities in the UK, and is a subsidiary of Japanese company Nippon Sheet Glass (NSG). It was formerly an independent company li ...

Glass company in St Helens, Merseyside. His work was also exhibited as part of '' The Other Story: Afro-Asian artists in post-war Britain'' at the

Hayward Gallery The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the Royal ...

in 1989; and is in collections including those of the

Arts Council of Great Britain The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (l ...

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street in Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University ...

Kettle's Yard Kettle's Yard is an art gallery and house in Cambridge, England. The director of the art gallery is Andrew Nairne. Both the house and gallery reopened in February 2018 after an expansion of the facilities. History and overview Kettle's Yar ...

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

Leicestershire County Council Leicestershire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Leicestershire, England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Leicester. The county coun ...

, , Museum of Modern Art (Berlin), Museum of Modern Art (Haifa),

National Gallery of Modern Art The National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) is the premier art gallery under Ministry of Culture, Government of India. The main museum at Jaipur House in New Delhi was established on 29 March 1954 by the Government of India, with subsequent b ...

, the National Trust for England,

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, Punjab Museum,

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

, and the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

Solo exhibitions

1987 ''Avinash Chandra'', Horizon Gallery, London.

Group exhibitions

1987 ''The Other Story,'' Hayward Gallery, London.

Reviews, articles, texts, etc.

- Rasheed Araeen, 'Conversation with Avinash Chandra', Third Text, no.3/4, (Spring - Summer 1988), 69–95. - 'Avinash Chandra', Third Text, no.16/17, (Autumn - Winter), 3–4. - James Burr, 'Obituary', Apollo, no.135, (January 1992), 54.

Personal life

He married artist Prem Lata in India, and they moved to the UK in 1956. They had a daughter, Alita in London in 1964. The marriage broke down through domestic violence and Prem Chandra took her daughter back to her family in India, before committing suicide in 1975, after which her mother raised her daughter. Chandra married his second wife Valerie Murray, a British actress of Jamaican heritage, in 1977. He died in London on 15 September 1991.