Krishen Khanna

He is a genre painter and a narrator who weaves and spins images out of the fragments of time.His art practice is embedded in the unfolding of his own life experiences.He assumes the position of the ‘katha vachak’ or narrator, looking outward to the other rather than the self.The central image then is of the artist as commentator,who,through painted gesture and narrative,seems to set up threads of connectivity.From the late 1940’s,he began to exhibit his works at the Bombay Art Society.He has exhibited with the Progressives at the Jehangir Art Gallery in 1951,following his invitation to their show in 1949.He also did several paintings on the subjects of death and displacement and revealed the first indication to paint subjects from myth and history.He became an artist-in-residence at the American University,Washington DC.In 2010,a retrospective of his works was exhibited at the Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi.

Khanna studied at the Imperial Service College,Windsor,England,from where he graduated in 1940 as a Rudyard Kipling Scholar.He returned to Lahore for a course in English literature at Government college and he simultaneously took evening class at the Mayo School of Art. 

Rockefeller Council Fellowship, New York in 1962-1963.
Kala Ratna,All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, New Delhi in 1997.
Lalit Kala Ratna, President of India in 2004.
Padma Bhushan, Government of India in 2011.