Artists > K G Subramanyan
Kalpathi Ganpathi Subramanyan (1924 – 2016)
K.G. Subramanyan was one of India’s iconic artists and educators. He belonged to that generation looking for a collective national identity through art and indigenous design.
Born in Kerala in 1924, he was part of the Indian Independence movement during his youth. In 1944, he joined Kala Bhavan, Shantiniketan, to pursue art. He subsequently moved to Baroda to teach and he made the city home.
Subramanyan’s relationship with the Weavers Service Centre began with making textile designs in 1959. As a design thinker, he was an integral part of the efforts being made to revive Indian textile design. At the New York World Fair in 1965, Subramanyan used hemp fibres and discarded pieces of cloth to create a massive textile relief, stressing on the interdependence of art and craft in the Indian design vocabulary.
In 1966, the artist was given a Rockefeller Grant to travel to New York. This was a very productive time for Subramanyan. In addition to canvas works, he undertook a series of works on paper that have come to be retrospectively titled, Markers, alluding to the marker pens he used in their making. IMPACT includes examples of this period as well as elements from his extensive relationship with book design.
A recipient of all three Padma awards, KG Subramanyan was a true pioneer.
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Profile
KG Subramanyan (1924 – 2016)
Education:
1956 Slade School of Art in London as a British Council Scholar
1948-44 Kala Bhavan, Art Faculty of Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan
1940s Presidency College, University of Madras
Selected Solo Exhibitions:
2024 One Hundred Years and Counting: Re-scripting KG Subramanyan, Emami Art
2023 K.G. Subramanyan: His Art As Language, Chatterjee & Lal
2021 K G Subramanyan: Selected Works, Art Heritage
2020 The Self Portrait: K G Subramanyan, Art Heritage
2018 KG Subramanyan – In the honeycomb of stories, Art Musings
2018 Women Seen and Remembered – Drawings by K G Subramanyan, Art Heritage
2017 Seeking a Poetry of the Real: The Political Works of K G Subramanyan, Art Heritage
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2026 Freedom to Form: Baroda Modern, DAG
2025 Singular Voices, Gallery Kolkata
2025 Vibrant Hues, Art Magnum
2025 Diwali Festive Times, Arushi Arts
2025 Harvest 2025 A Fusion of Lineages and Legacies, Arushi Arts
2025 Lines & Legacies, Gallery Kolkata
2025 The Art of India’25, Art Magnum
2024 “Innovations In Tradition” | Pre-Modern, Modern & Emerging Indian Art,Gallery Kolkata
2024 Sangraha, A Confluence of Modern Masters, Gallery Kolkata
2022 Stories in Art, Gallery Kolkata
2021 Cynosure – I, Gallery Kolkata
2021 Modern – Contemporary, Gallery Kolkata
2021 Colours & Paint – Master Series 1, Gallery Kolkata
2020 Old Bengal, Modern to Contemporary (Series – I), Gallery Kolkata
2019 15th Anniversary Show, Gallery Kolkata, Gallery Kolkata
2018 IMPACT: design thinking and the visual arts in young India, Chatterjee & Lal
2016 Mysteries of the Organism, AkaraArt
2014 Shades of Gray, Sakshi Gallery
Fellowships & Awards:
2015 Savyasachi Award
2012 Padma Vibhushan
2006 Padma Bhushan
1993 Lalit Kala Akademi
1981 Kalidas Samman
1975 Padma Shri
1966 Rockefeller Fellowship
