On This Day

May 2, On This Day Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Satyajit Ray was also a screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, calligrapher, music composer, and — illustrator!  Born on May 2, 1921, Ray’s illustrative talents may be less spoken about than his cinematic accomplishments, but they were prodigious just […]

Today is the 174th birth anniversary of Raja Ravi Varma. He was a painter among kings and a king among painters. Raja Ravi Varma\’s success is attributed to his skilful use of European film technology. He was noted for making lithographs of his paintings available to the public. This made him famous in India as

April 27, On This Day American inventor and painter Samuel Morse, born April 27, 1791, is best known for contributing to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on European telegraphs, and being the co-developer of the Morse code that helped develop commercial use of telegraphy.   But Morse was also a portrait painter,

On This Day, April 23    She was described by former Iraq president Jalal Talabani (1933-2017) as “the first Iraqi woman who anchored the pillars of Iraqi contemporary art”.   Naziha Salim — an Iraqi artist, educator and author — has the Google Doodle on April 23, 2022, dedicated to her.   Not a great

April 22, On This Day He is known as the doyen of modernism in Indian art, and was a guru to three generations of artists. Interestingly, he also witnessed the partition of the Indian subcontinent three times — in 1905, 1947 and 1971 — and also watched 20th century Indian art through all its phases.

April 20, On This Day Surrealist, Fauvist, Expressionist — this Spanish painter, sculptor and ceramicist wore many-a-hat, but his work was ever redefining tropes at every turn and politically charged through most of his life. Joan Miró was born on April 20, 1893, in Barcelona.  It is written that he “was notable for his interest

April 16, On This Day   He was born into penury on April 16, 1914, and passed away at the age of 71 in June 1985, also in relative poverty.   But in between, artist Krishnaji Howlaji Ara or KH Ara, an integral member of the Progressive Artists’ Group (PAG) in Bombay, left behind a

April 15, On This Day  Leonardo da Vinci, painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer whose skill and intelligence — perhaps more than that of any other figure — epitomised the Renaissance humanist ideal, was born on April 15, 1452, exactly 570 years ago from today. One of the most famous artists of all time, he

The leading portrait painter of his generation, John Singer Sargent is remembered on 14th April on his death anniversary. He died in 1925 and left behind a legacy of around 900 oil paintings, more than 2000 watercolours, numerous sketches and charcoal drawings. Although he was popular among art lovers as a portraitist, he was also