Balan Nambiar (born 12 November 1937 in

Kannapuram Kannapuram is a census town and grama panchayat in Kannur district of North Malabar region in the Indian state of Kerala. Demographics As of 2011 Census of India, 2011 Census, Kannapuram had a population of 18,459 of which males constitute 8,2 ...

) is an Indian painter, sculptor, enamellist, photographer and an academic researcher.

Biography

As a sculptor he worked with clay, fiberglass reinforced concrete, wood, bronze,

mild steel Carbon steel is a steel with carbon content from about 0.05 up to 2.1 percent by weight. The definition of carbon steel from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) states: * no minimum content is specified or required for chromium, cobalt ...

and, from 2000, stainless steel. Many of his works are outdoor sculptures; some are monumental. He produced enamel paintings, having learned the technique from

Paolo De Poli Paolo De Poli (1 August 1905 – 21 September 1996) was an Italian Enamelling, enameller and painter. Biography Born in Padua, and after an early training in drawing and Repoussé and chasing, embossing on metal at the art school Pietro Selvati ...

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

, Italy. His creative works were exhibited in national and international art exhibitions, including

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

in 1982, Constructa-78 in

Hannover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

in 1978, Triennale India in New Delhi in 1975. Works by him are in the permanent collection of many museums. Balan Nambiar has extensively studied, photographed and documented hundreds of ritual performances and art forms of the Indian west coast as Teyyam and Bhuta. Articles and photographs by him are published in books. Around 1800 of his photographs have been acquired by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, New Delhi. He received awards both for creative works and academic research: India National Award in 1981 and

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

State Award in 1980 of

Lalit Kala Academy The Lalit Kala Akademi or National Academy of Art (LKA) is India's national academy of fine arts. It is an autonomous organisation, established in New Delhi in 1954 by Government of India to promote and propagate understanding of Indian art, in ...

(National Academy of Fine Arts) for his sculptures, Senior Fellowship of the India Ministry of Culture in 1982–83 and Nehru Fellowship of

Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund The Prime Ministers' Museum and Library Society previously known as the Nehru Museum and Library Society is a museum and library in New Delhi, India, which aims to preserve and reconstruct the history of the Indian independence movement. Housed ...

in 1983–85 for academic research, Academy Fellowship of the Kerala Lalitha Kala Academy in 2005 for creative works, Pravasi Kalaratna Fellowship of Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi in 2013 for painting. The

Government of Kerala The Government of Kerala (abbreviated as GoK), also known as the Kerala Government, is the administrative body responsible for governing the Indian States and territories of India, state of Kerala. The government is led by a chief minister, who ...

awarded him the 2014 ''

Raja Ravi Verma Raja Ravi Varma () (29 April 1848 – 2 October 1906) was an Indian painter and artist. His works are one of the best examples of the fusion of European academic art with a purely Indian sensibility and iconography. Especially, he was notable f ...

Puraskaram'', the highest state award in the art category, in 2015.

National Gallery of Modern Art, Bangalore National Gallery of Modern Art is an art gallery in Bangalore. It was inaugurated in the year 2009. It showcases modern Indian art and houses paintings by Raja Ravi Verma, Jamini Roy, Amrita Sher-Gil, Rabindranath Tagore and a large number o ...

held the retrospective of six decades of work by Nambiar in February 2018, which was curated by Sadanand Meno

He has been chairman of the Lalit Kala Academi, New Delhi, member of the General Council of Lalit Kala Academy, member of the Central Advisory Board on Culture, India.

Major works

* ''Monument to the Assassinated'', Kota stone, steel and granite, 2.5 x 5.6 x 1.8 m., Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi, 1995 * ''Valampiri Shankha'', stainless steel, 2.4 m. high, Indian Institute of Science, gifted by Texas Instruments, Bangalore, 2000 * ''Hanging sculpture'', stainless steel, 5.3 m. high, ING-Vysya Bank, Bangalore, 2003 * ''Sculpture for Timken'', stainless steel, 6.02 m. high, TIMKEN, Bangalore, 2004 * ''Kannati Bimbam'', 2007 * ''The Sky is the Limit'', stainless steel, 6.5 m. high,

Indian Oil Corporation Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL or IOC), trading as IndianOil, is an Indian multinational oil and gas company under the ownership of the Government of India and administrative control of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. It is ...

, New Delhi, 2010

Collections

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 ...

, India (sculptures in National Gallery Modern Art, New Delhi; Government Museum, Bangalore;

, Bangalore; Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur) * Government Museum, Chennai * Museum of Sacred Art, Durbuy, Belgium * Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore * Rietberg Museum, Zurich See more in Shrishti Art Gallery, India.

Publications on ritual art

* Nambiar, Balan (2014). "Veeralipattu, Valampiri Shankha, Kannadi Bimbam". Kottayam, Kerala State, India: DC Books. (Malayalam) * * Nambiar, Balan (2009). "Mythos und Kunsthandwerk (Rituals, myths and handicrafts)". In Beltz, Johannes. ''Wenn Masken tanzen – Rituelles Theater und Bronzekunst aus Südindien''. Museum Rietberg, Zürich, pp. 19–55. (German) * Nambiar, Balan (2001). "Masks in the ritual arts of the west coast of southern India". In Malik, S.C. ''Man, Mind and Mask'', IGNCA, New Delhi, pp. 267–271. * Nambiar, Balan (2000). "Teyyam, the Ritual Performing Arts of northern Kerala". In Goswamy, B.N. ''History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization: Indian Art'', pp. 265–277, New Delhi. * Nambiar, Balan (1993). "Tai paradevata: Ritual impersonation in the Teyyam tradition of Kerala". In Brückner H., Lutze L., Malik A. ''Flags of fame, Studies in South Asian folk culture'', pp. 139–163, South Asia Books, * Nambiar, Balan., Fisher E. (1987) "Patola / Virali pattu – from Gujarat to Kerala". Lang, Peter, ''Asiatische Studien 41,2'': 120–146, 1987 (German) * Nambiar, Balan (1981). "Gods and Ghosts – Teyyam and Bhuta rituals". Doshi, Saryu (ed) ''The performing Arts'', Marg Volume 34, Issues 3–4, Bombay, 1981, pp 62–73

References

External links

Personal website

Balan Nambiar Interview by Parul, Chandigarh Lalit Kala Academy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nambiar, Balan 20th-century Indian painters Indian male sculptors Indian enamellers 20th-century enamellers 21st-century enamellers Indian folklorists Scholars from Kerala Photography academics People from Kannur district Malayali people Artists from Kerala 1937 births Living people Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai alumni Indian modern sculptors Jawaharlal Nehru Fellows 20th-century Indian sculptors Indian contemporary artists 21st-century ceramists