Artists > Cumi Dallas
Cumi Dallas (1907 – 1973) was a painter, muralist, portraitist and art educator whose career spanned the formative decades of modern Indian art. Born in Bombay to Rustom and Hirabai Siodia, she graduated from the Sir J.J. School of Art in 1932 with a Government Diploma in Painting, placing second in order of merit. She subsequently studied mural decoration and undertook extensive research into Indian art, architecture and culture, travelling to Ajanta, Ellora, Gujarat, Rajasthan, South India, Lucknow and other important centres. In 1935, she married architect Homi N. Dallas and continued to develop her practice through landscape, portraiture, religious painting and mural design. Her sustained study of Ajanta frescoes and Indian architectural traditions became an important foundation of her work.
Dallas was an active participant in Bombay’s artistic institutions, serving as President of the Art Society of India and the All India Women Artists Association. She exhibited widely in India and abroad, including solo exhibitions in London and Warsaw, and at the Jehangir Art Gallery in Bombay and the All India Arts and Crafts Society in Delhi. Her commissions included portraits of prominent figures, murals and religious paintings, including a life-size painting of Lord Zoroaster. Awarded a Gold Medal by the Calcutta Art Society in 1962, Dallas died in Bombay in 1973, leaving behind a significant body of work reflecting her deep engagement with India’s artistic heritage.
Profile
Cumi Dallas (1907 – 1973)
Education:
1957 Study of Cochin Murals and extensive tour of the South.
1941 Study of sculpture of Halibeed and Belur.
1940 Study tour of South India.
1938 Study of arts and crafts, Indian music of Lucknow.
1937 Study of domestic architecture, ornaments and motifs of Paithan near Aurangabad and comparative study of Peshwa period at Poona and Nashik
1936 Intensive study of Art and Architecture of Gujarat.
1934-35 Study of Indian Mythology and Indian Music.
1934 Study of Ajanta Frescoes and Ellora Cave Temples. Study of Mughal Art at Agra.
1932 Bachelors from the Sir JJ School of Art, Bombay, with Government Diploma in Painting.
Selected Solo Exhibitions:
1956 Paintings By Cumi Dallas by the All India Women Artists, Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay.
1950 Indian Paintings and Mural Designs by the Asian Institute Gallery, National Gallery, London.
1936 Bombay Art Society’s, Pune.
– Royal Institute Of Painters In Water Colour, London.
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2024 Resemblance: The Art of Rustom Siodia and Cumi Dallas, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai
Notable Works:
1989 Portrait of Madam Bhikhaji Cama in the Parliament House, Delhi.
1966 Mural on the building of the Red Cross, Bombay.
1963 Renovation of 26 portraits for the Surat Parsi Panchayat.
1963 Commissioned 7 portraits, including the late Sir Cowasji Jehangir, Bart.
1963 Painted a mural in wet fresco at the studio in Kala – Nagar.
1961 Life size portrait of M.W.M. Bhogilal Shah and other Worthy Masters for Masonic Lodges.
1961 Life size painting of Lord Zoroaster for the Fire Temple, Delhi.
1960 Four portraits for Maratha Mandir, Bombay.
1959 Commissioned portraits of Dasturji Khurshed Daboo and Dasturji Manekji Bhathena.
1956 Portrait, Queen of Iran
1939 Several copies of Ajanta paintings made on site.
Career:
1959 – 64 Elected President of the All India Women Artists Association, Bombay.
1958 – 60 Elected President of the Art Society of India, Bombay.
1954 Conference of International Architects at Warsaw, Poland. Read a paper, ‘The Expression Of Life Through Line And Colour’.
1951 – 52 Senior Teacher for IV and V year at Sir JJ School of Art, for teaching Design.
1943 Member of the managing committee and Hon. Treasurer of Art Society Of India, Bombay.
Residences:
1961 Studio at Kala – Nagar, Artists Colony, Bandra, Bombay.
Grants:
1962 Gold medal by the Calcutta Art Society in appreciation of her Meritorious services to Indian Art.
1933 Scholarships in Mural Decoration, Sir JJ School of Art.
– First Prize, States Sector, Exhibition Of Arts, Crafts and Industries at Cross Maidan, Bombay Pavilion
