Krishen Khanna

One of the most versatile modernists in the scene of Indian art, Krishen Khanna is known for visual narratives unfolding right before viewer’s eye. The socio-political reality of his times merged with personal experience gets distilled into a unique artistic idiom. Khanna’s style confronts a universe of visually evocative, emotionally charged representational figures suggesting tales of love, loss, grit determination, sorrow, and struggle. Sometimes these are the stories of trauma and horrors of partition, while often these are woven around Indian mythology. At the same time, these stories are a deep peep into the lives of common people living on the fringes of society – the band-wallahs (musicians ), truck drivers, etc.

Born 1925, in Faislabad. Pakistan, Khanna never had much formal art education. In 1940, he graduated in banking from the Imperial Service College in Windsor, England. More importantly, post his studies, he undertook evening classes of art at the Mayo School of Art in Lahore. The partition of India and Pakistan bought him to Shimla along with his family in 1947. The socio-political manifestations of partition deeply affected Khanna and the stories of displacement became a recurring theme in his work. Many of his paintings depict the trauma and bewilderment of sudden loss as one can see figures of frenzied people running helter-skelter.

As a banker, Khanna began his stint in art as a part-time practitioner. During his time in Bombay (now Mumbai),  he met Hussain, Souza and Raza of the Progressive Artists’ Group (PAG) fame. Growing closer to PAG, in 1951, he exhibited his works with them at the Jehangir Art Gallery. Eventually, as fate had already concluded,  in 1961, he left his banking career to pursue art full time.

Khanna is also known for his series of paintings on Christ. His affinity for music made him feature musicians as subjects in many works. Khanna’s works have been exhibited widely in India and across the world. He was honoured with the Padmashri in 1990 and the Padma Bhushan in 2011.

Krishen Khanna lives and works in Gurgaon.