Description
About the artist:
Jehangir Ardeshir Sabavala was an eminent modernist painter whose career has spanned over six decades. The artist mostly worked in oils and was known for his landscapes and seascapes wherein he practiced the modernist style creating wedges of paint which formed vast, still landscapes. The human figure which began to appear in a diminutive form, enveloped in solitude began to emerge in close ups and yet retain the distance of a remembered past. The receding planes gave each canvas an illusory sense of depth, illustrating Jehangir’s mastery over light, colour and texture. In Sabavala’s own words, “Im an artist who believes in infusing something new in each of his work rather than sticking to the tried and tested singular palettes.”
Sabavala was born (1922) in Bombay. He earned a diploma from Mumbai’s Sir J. J. School of Art in 1944. Thereafter he went to Europe and studied at the Heatherley School of Fine Art, London, (1945–47), and in Academie Andre Lhote, Paris (1948–51), the Académie Julian (1953–54), and finally at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in 1957. Sabavala has showcased his works at Grand Prix De la Peinture at Monaco in 1949; followed by participation in the Commonwealth Arts festival at London, Asian Artists exhibition at Fukuoka in Tokyo, Japan; Indian painters, Teheran; and the Whitley’s gallery show in London, apart from numerous shows all over India and the world. Since 1951, there are over 30 solo shows to the artist’s credit, which were held in India and abroad.
Sabavala was honoured with a Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1977 and a Lalit Kala Ratna by the President of India in 2007. Sabavala passed away at the age of 89 in Mumbai (2011).
