Renowned Artist, Sculptor and Muralist Satish Gujral Passes Away

The Padma Vibhushan recipient was 94 years old.

Satish Gujral while working in his studio in September 2015.

(Photo Courtesy: Sahar Zaman)

Satish Gujral, one of India’s most renowned artists, passed away at the age of 94 on Thursday, 26 March. A Padma Vibhushan recipient, Satish Gujral was the elder brother of Inder Kumar Gujral, former Prime Minister of India in the United Front government in 1997-98.

Gujral was a famous painter, sculptor and muralist who had studied at Mayo School of Arts in Lahore and later enrolled in the JJ School of Art in Mumbai.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences over Gujral’s passing away on social media via a tweet. He called Gujral “versatile and multifaceted”.

The art world also mourned the death of the veteran artist. Art curator Ranjit Hoskote took to Twitter and wrote, “ Just heard the sad news of Satish Gujral's passing. Unlike many of his peers, who went to Paris or London in the early 1950s, Gujral went to Mexico City to study with Diego Rivera and Siqueiros. Gujral's was a versatile practice spanning painting, sculpture and architecture. RIP.”

Born in Jhelum, in modern-day Pakistan, in 1926, Gujral witnessed the misery and horror of Partition. In his own words, he later immersed himself in painting “man’s cruelty to man”. Some of his most famous paintings include Days of Glory and Mourning en mass, which reflect this anguish.

Satish Gujral had designed the Belgium Embassy in New Delhi, which was chosen by the international forum of architects as one of the thousand best-built buildings of the 20th century in the world. Also, a sculptor and a muralist, Satish Gujral had designed the alphabet mural of the Delhi High Court.