S. G. Thakur Singh
S. G. Thakur Singh | |
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![]() S.G. Thakur Singh | |
Born | 1899 |
Died | 1976 | (aged 76–77)
Occupation | Indian artist |
S. G. Thakur Singh(1899–1976) was an Indian artist who painted inoils,pastelsandwater colour
Childhood
[edit]He was born in the tiny farm village ofVerka,four miles Northeast ofAmritsar,Punjab,India. He received some art training from Mohammed Alam, the Muslim school teacher in the village.
Interviewed at the age of 74, Singh said that when he was seventeen, "I was forced by my guardians to join theVictoria Diamond Hindu Technical Institute,Lahore,to take up an engineering course. I wasted there two years and left it in disgust. "When he returned to his village his former teacher, Mohammed Alam, persuaded him to come toMumbai,where Alam had secured a job as ascene-painterin a Mumbai theatre. While in Mumbai, Singh worked both at odd jobs in the studio and on his own, with Alam guiding him.
"One fine morning" Singh recalls, "I was busy painting a landscape at Chowpati Beach, Mumbai, when a couple suddenly stopped beside me and began admiring my painting which was, by that time, almost complete. The gentlemen, an influential Parsi editor of a Bombay Magazine, goaded me into sending the painting to an exhibition of the Simla Fine Arts Society." There his painting won the first prize of Rs. 500, among the landscapes. I was then only eighteen, and you can well imagine my joy and pride at getting the prize.
Just as that chance encounter on Chowpati Beach led to his first prize in the painting, throughout his life he had many worthy patrons.Rabindra Nath Tagore,Dr. Rajendra Prasadand artists and critics have paid tribute to his work.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Later career
[edit]From Mumbai he moved toKolkatawhere he lived and worked for several theatrical companies,[7]working initially atMadan Theatreas a scene painter. The Tagores became his patrons, and the public too got to appreciate his work through reproductions in Bengali journals. His seductive paintings of women, such asAfter the Bathwere especially popular.[8]According toPartha Mitter,author ofThe triumph of modernism: India's artists and the avant-garde, 1922–1947and the art criticKrishna Chaitanya,Thakur Singh followed the style of the Bengali artistHemendranath Mazumdarin painting such themes.
With friends, Thakur Singh organised thePunjab Fine Art Societyin Kolkata, and the Society's first Exhibition was held in 1926. The Society promoted Thakur Singh's own works, publishing his paintings inThe Art of S. G. Thakur SinghandGlimpses of India,the latter book had introductions by Rabindranath andAbanindranath Tagore.Thakur Singh worked specially for the rulers of Indian princely states on commissions, the rulers of Kotah, Udaipur, Bhopal, Kashmir and others being his patrons.[9]
Thakur Singh moved back to Amritsar in 1931, where he founded theThakur Singh School of Art.[10]Several of its past students are now achieving recognition as artists or as art-teachers and it has been lately recognised by the Industrial Training Department of the Punjab Government to award a diploma of Art & Craft, teacher's course.
He painted in oils, pastels and water colour. He painted nearly ten thousand paintings, and has won many awards. His paintings hang in museums, public buildings and in private collections around the world.
India honoured him in other ways too. He was nominated to the First Punjab Legislative Council in 1952. He was on the Executive Board of the National Academy of Art (Lalit Kala Akademy) and was Chairman of the Decoration Sub Committee at the 61st Session of theIndian National Congressheld at Amritsar in 1956. He was invited to the formerUSSRandHungaryfor solo shows in Moscow,LeningradandBudapest.
He was commissioned to do many portraits, but it is his landscapes which have won for him popular acclaim.
He received award ofPadma Shriin 1973.
Auction Results
[edit]Auction House | Result Link |
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Bonhams | https:// bonhams /auction/26636/lot/194/s-g-thakur-singh-india-189099-1976-indian-street-scene/ |
Sothebys | https:// sothebys /en/buy/auction/2021/modern-contemporary-south-asian-art/untitled-woman-in-courtyard |
Bid and Hammer | https://auctions.bidandhammer /sg-thakur-singh?productId=2717&catId=58#.YwOwsXbMKUk |
Bonhams | https:// bonhams /auctions/25434/lot/216/ |
Bonhams | https:// bonhams /auction/25545/lot/86/s-g-thakur-singh-india-189099-1976-fishermen-at-dawn-on-madras-beach/ |
Bonhams | https:// bonhams /auction/27372/lot/104/rajasthan-bedla-prince-of-bedla-by-sg-thakar-singh-1935/ |
Osians | http://assets.osianama /ecatalogue/2008-01-19-Indian-Modern-Contemporary-Art/35/ |
References
[edit]- ^"Image: 11011953.jpg, (1163 × 892 px)".artistsgthakursingh. 26 July 2009.Retrieved6 September2015.
- ^"Image: The Statesman 09021953.jpg, (775 × 1283 px)".artistsgthakursingh. 26 July 2009.Retrieved6 September2015.
- ^"Image: 11021953.jpg, (463 × 576 px)".artistsgthakursingh. 26 July 2009.Retrieved6 September2015.
- ^"Image: image046.jpg, (1199 × 1231 px)".artistsgthakursingh. 26 July 2009.Retrieved6 September2015.
- ^"Image: 67.jpg, (598 × 813 px)".artistsgthakursingh. 5 July 2009.Retrieved6 September2015.
- ^"Image: 11121961.jpg, (370 × 358 px)".artistsgthakursingh. 24 July 2009.Retrieved6 September2015.
- ^Singh, Ranjit (2008).Sikh Achievers.Hemkunt Press.ISBN9788170103653.
- ^Mitter, Partha (2007).The triumph of modernism: India's artists and the avant-garde, 1922–1947.Reaktion Books.ISBN9781861893185.
- ^Srivastava, R. P. (1983).Punjab Painting.Abhinav Publications.ISBN9788170171744.
- ^"Indian Academy of Fine Arts, Amritsar: Homes".indianacademyoffinearts.Retrieved6 September2015.