Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh (born 16 February 1937) is a painter, poet and

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

from

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

, India. He was awarded the

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

in 1983 and Padmabhushan in 2014 for his contribution in field of art.

Early life

Sheikh was born on 16 February 1937 in Surendranagar (now in Saurashtra region of Gujarat, India). He matriculated in 1955. He completed B.A. in Fine Art in 1959 and M.A. in 1961 from Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. He received ARCA from

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

, London in 1966.

Career

In 1960, he joined as a professor of Fine Arts in the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Baroda. His teaching positions have included teaching art history in the Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda (1960–63 and 1967–81,) and as Professor of Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda (1982–1993). He has been a Visiting Artist at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

in 1987 and 2002, and a Writer/Artist in Residence at Civitella Ranieri Center, Umbertide, Italy (1998), at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

(2002), and at Montalvo, California (2005). Sheikh has been a major figure in the world of Indian art for more than four decades. He has participated in major exhibitions all over the world and his works are displayed in private and public collections including the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi,

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 ...

in London and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, USA. Ghulam has been active not merely as an artist but also as a teacher and writer. His collection of Gujarati surrealistic poems, ''Athwa'' (1974) won him considerable critical acclaim. He has also written a prose series, ''Gher Jatan'' and edited special issues of ''Kshitij'' as well as ''Vishwamanav'' and ''Sayujya'' magazines. ''American Chitrakala'' (1964) is his translated work.

Style

"Sheikh's art is by its nature," writes Chaitanya Sambrani, "one that takes on task of narrating, and therefore, recreating the world. There is a close tie-in between this narrative and an act of mapping the world, which gives to the speaking subject the possibility of addressing the world as his/her own". Recently Sheikh had been working on the Mappa Mundi series where he defines new horizons and ponders over to locate himself in. Sheikh construes these personal universes enthused from the miniature shrines where he urges the audience to exercise the freedom to build up their Mappa Mundi.

Personal life

Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh lives with his artist-wife Nilima in

Vadodara Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is a city situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district. The city is named for its abundance of banyan ...

, India.

Awards

* National Award, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, 1962. * Padmashri by

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

, 1983 * Kalidas Samman, Madhya Pradesh Government, 2002. * Padma Bhushan by

, 2014 * Sahitya Akademi Award for Gujarati, 2022

Exhibitions

* Solo Exhibition at Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay, 1960 * National Exhibition, New Delhi, 1962 * The VII Tokyo Biennale, Tokyo, Japan, 1963 * Cinquieme Biennale de Paris, Paris, 1967 * 25 Years of Indian Art, Lalit Kala Akademi, Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi, 1972 * Contemporary painting of India, Belgrade, Warsaw, Sofia, Brussels, 1974 * III Triennale (India), Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi, 1975 * Place for People (6 artists), Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay and Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi, 1981 * Contemporary Indian Art, Royal Academy of Arts, Festival of India, London, 1982 * Returning Home, Solo Exhibition (a retrospective selection of work from 1968 to 1985) at Centre Georges Pompidou, Musee National d'Art Modeme, Paris, 1985 * Timeless Art, exhibition and auction, Times of India sesquicentennial at Victoria Terminus, Bombay, 1989 * Realism as an Attitude, IV Asian Art Show, Fukuoka, Japan, 1995 * Two-person show (with Bhupen Khakhar), Walsh Gallery, Chicago, USA, 2002

Publications

2017, 'Nirkhe te Nazar', a collection of writings on visual arts in Gujarati, Samvad Prakashan, Vadodara & Khsitij Sansodhan Prakashan Kendra, Mumbai. * Athwa (poems in Gujarati), Butala, Vadodara 1974. * Laxma Goud, monograph on the artist, Hyderabad, A. P. Lalit Kala Akademi, Hyderabad 1981. * Contemporary Art of Baroda (ed.), Tulika, New Delhi 1996. * Essays, articles and papers in 'Marg', 'Journal of Arts & Ideas', 'Lalit Kala Contemporary' as well as Hindi and Gujarati journals. * Exhibition catalogues of K G Subramanyan, Jeram Patel, Laxma Goud, DLN Reddy, D Devraj, etc.

Bibliography

* Geeta Kapur, Contemporary Indian Art, Royal Academy, London,1982 * Ajay Sinha, Revolving Routes, Form, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1983 * From Art to Life (interview with Gieve Patel for exhibition catalogue), Returning Home, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris 1985 * Timothy Hyman, Sheikh's One Painting, Returning Home (exhibition catalogue), Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris 1985 * New Figuration in India, Art International, Spring 1990 * Geeta Kapur Riddles of the Sphinx, in Journeys (exhibition catalogue), CMC Gallery, New Delhi, 1991 * Kamala Kapoor, New Thresholds of Meaning, Art India, Quarter 3, 2001 * Palimpsest, interview with Kavita Singh, (exhibition catalogue), Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, 2001 * Kamala Kapoor in Valerie Breuvart (ed.) VITAMIN P : New Perspectives in Painting, Phaidon Press, London/ New York 2002 * Gayatri Sinha, The Art of Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh, Lustre Press / Roli Books, New Delhi, 2002 * Zecchini Laetitia, "More than one world: An interview with Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh", Journal of Postcolonial Writing, Vol. 53, 1-2, 2017

References

External links

Profile on Google Arts & Culture

Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh Archive on Asia Art Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheikh, Ghulam Mohammed 1937 births Indian Muslims Indian male painters Living people Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts People associated with Santiniketan People from Vadodara Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda alumni 20th-century Indian painters Gujarati-language poets Painters from Gujarat 20th-century Indian male artists Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Gujarati