Avinash Chandra

AVINASH CHANDRA (1931-1991)

Untitled  1964

mixed media on paper

signed and dated

15½ x 20 ins (39.4 x 51 cm)

Born in Simla, Northern India, Chandra studied and then taught art in New Delhi. At the age of twenty, he held his first solo exhibition in India. He was the youngest artist to be offered an exhibition by the Progressive Artist’s Group, and was eventually awarded first prize at the Lalit Kala Akademi in 1955. The following year he moved to London, where his work was enthusiastically received. His first British show was at the Commonwealth Institute in 1957. Other exhibitions soon followed: in Belfast, Paris, Amsterdam, Zurich, Copenhagen, Stockholm and in several cities in the UK. In 1962, the BBC made the documentary ‘The Art of Avinash Chandra’. He was the first modern Indian artist to be purchased by the Tate Gallery. In 1964 he became the first Indian artist to exhibit at the Documenta in Kassel. In 1965, Chandra was awarded a John D. Rockefeller Fund Fellowship and in 1967 he moved to New York until his return to London in 1973. From that period onwards, his works continued to be exhibited in the USA, Canada and Israel, as well at various museum venues in London. His paintings are held in many major museum collections in India, Europe and the USA.