AESTHETICS AND APPLIED ART PRACTICE IN INDIA

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Practitioners of Aesthetics in
Applied Art of Maharashtra
1860 till 1960.
TimeLine researched information on applied artist who have contributed for
the growth of economy, commerce and industry, taken from the biographical
encyclopedia [first published in Marathi on 4th
May 2013 by Sapatahik Vivek-
Hindustan Prakashan.] ‘VISUAL ART OF MAHARASHTRA.’ Content edited by:
Suhas Bahulkar and Deepak Ghare. Applied Art section by –Vasant Sarwate &
Ranjan R. I. Joshi. This presentation is edited compilation: By Ranjan R. I.
Joshi as part of his research.
Artist born during 1860 to 1920………………………………………………………
By Ranjan Raghuvir Indumati Joshi
We begin with
1. 1867-1944. Artist M. V. Dhurandhar (Pioneer of Applied Art in India)
And will be followed by
2. 1885-1983. Dattatreya Puranik (Pioneer of Sign board,
Billboard Painter artist)
3. 1891-1975. Shankar V. Kirloskar (Cartoonist & Editor)
4. 1908 -1994. V. N. Adarkar (Applied Art Educationist & Art Administrator)
5. 1908-2004. R. B. Kelkar (Cartoonist, Artist & Art Teacher)
6. 1909-1959. V. Hattangadi (Cartoonist)
7. 1910-…….? Umesh Rao (Commercial & Applied Artist)
8. 1912-1999. L. S. Wakankar (Script and Letter Researcher)
9. 1914-1984. Govind Bhadsavle (Commercial Artist & Publicity Artist)
10. C.1900..? R. R. Prabhu (Pioneer Professional Advertising Photographer)
11. 1915-2005. P. V. Prayagi (Pioneer Medical Illustrator)
12. 1917-1998. V. N. Oke (Graphic Artist and Caricaturist)
13. 1919….? Sarma P. N. (Creative Art Director)
14. 1920-2005. B. Y. Padhye (Earliest Advertising Publicity Professional)

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Dhurandhar, Mahadeo Vishwanath
Artist and Art Teacher
1867 – 1 June 1944
After Raja Ravi Varma, M. V. Dhurandhar was the most significant artist who
gained popularity through his paintings based on Indian epics, myths and
legends. He was also known for his historical paintings, oleographs, posters,
calendars and book illustrations. The British Government honored
Dhurandhar with the title ‘Rao Bahadur’ considering his service in the field of
Art education and his popularity with the masses. Mahadeo Dhurandhar was
born at his maternal home in Mumbai. Dhurandhar father Vishwanath was a
respected person in Kolhapur. His mother’s name was Narmada. While
learning at Rajaram High School, Kolhapur, Dhurandhar, as a child was
mesmerized by the artistic atmosphere of Kolhapur and by the oleographs of Raja Ravi Varma’s
paintings adorning the walls of the most Indian homes in those days. Due to his inclination towards
drawing, he often won prizes in art competitions in his school days. His proclivity towards water
colour began with the inspiration drawn from the paintings of Abalal Rahiman and strengthened
further when he had a chance to see Abalal painting in the picturesque atmosphere of Kolhapur.
Dhurandhar got an opportunity to visit the Sir J. J. School of Art, when he had come to Mumbai to
appear for the Matriculation examination. Highly impressed, he decided to join the Sir J. J. School of
Art for pursuing his higher art education. He studied
at J. J. from 1890 to 1896. His father expired when he
was studying at the Art School in 1893. Dhurandhar
was dedicated to his studies and worked diligently in
the classroom to ensure that he would get highest
marks in the examination, get the much needed
scholarships and wouldn’t be a financial burden on his
brother. While studying he was married to Bapubai in
1895. Unfortunately she expired in 1897 and
Dhurandhar was remarried to Gangubai in 1899. In his
student life, Dhurandhar won the ‘Waddington Prize’
in 1891, The Bombay Art Society prize in 1892, the Mayo Medal in 1894. Due to his skill and patience
at drawing, the Principal of the Sir J. J. School of Art, John Griffiths asked him to draw a hundred
drawings of different types of Indian utensils, which gave justice to the indigenous craft and skill of
the craftsmen. They were later published in the Government publication, ‘Indian Art Journal’,
London along with John Griffith’s ‘Monograph on Copper and Brass Pottery’. After successfully
completing higher art education in 1896, Dhurandhar was appointed as a Teacher at the Sir J. J.
School of Art. He was elevated to the Head Master’s post (Head of the Department) in 1910. He
worked as the Inspector of Drawing often since 1918
whenever Principal Hogarth went on leave. When
Principal Gladstone Solomon went on leave for one year
in 1930, Dhurandhar was given the officiating charge for
the post of the Director of Art in Solomon’s absence
which he carried out successfully. He was later
appointed once again to the post of Inspector of
Drawing and retired in 1931.
Dhurandhar gained proficiency in academic realism due
to the methodical curriculum of J. J. based on the ideals
of Kensington School, London. He excelled in drawing,
figurative painting and Landscape painting. He had to

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his credit many realistic paintings depicting scenes from the Indian epics, historical incidents and the
daily life of the common man full of customs and rituals. His painting ‘Music Lesson’ was awarded a
cash prize at the, The Bombay Art Society’s exhibition in 1894, which was bought by Raja Ravi Varma
for his collection.
Dhurandhar came into limelight with his painting titled ‘Gaurabai Tu Alees’ exhibited in The Bombay
Art Society’s exhibition for which he was awarded a Gold Medal in 1895. Dhurandhar was the first
Indian to get a Gold Medal in the society’s history. Dhurandhar won five Gold Medals in his career.
He got the second Gold medal during the Industrial Exhibition held at Mumbai in 1904. He received
the third Gold Medal at the Fine Art Industrial Exhibition held at Pandharpur for his painting,
‘Naivedya’ in 1907. He received fourth Gold Medal for his painting titled ‘Varhadani’ (marriage
party), exhibited in the Industrial exhibition held at Jalgaon in 1910. In this painting, Dhurandhar had
shown a group of women bustling with enthusiasm and the bride as the center of attention in a
colorful marriage ceremony of the Pathare Prabhu community of Maharashtra. Today this painting is
in the collection of the Sangli Museum, Maharashtra. His painting ‘Homage to their Majesties King
and Queen’ won the fifth Gold Medal at the Industrial exhibition held at Gwalior in 1912. In this
painting Dhurandhar had shown women from different parts of the country offering gifts at the
reception given to the King and Queen of Britain on their visit to India. Another painting, ‘Glory of
Pandharpur’ was exhibited in the exhibition at Wimble, London and was awarded the prize for the
best watercolor painting. It was appreciated and acknowledged in the review published in ‘The
British Empire Review’. Along with portraits, Dhurandhar documented different festivals,
celebrations and traditions of India, especially the customs and rituals of the upper middle class
from the Pathare Prabhu community to which he belonged. His paintings were a reflection of the
society in those days, serving as a valuable documentation in the tradition of British artists like John
Lockwood Kipling and John Griffiths who did studies in the form of drawings of Indian craftsmen and
daily lives of the local people. In Dhurandhar’s paintings one can experience the family life of the rich
and the noble, with the graceful women flaunting exquisite jewelry in their nine yard sarees,
beautiful hairstyles against the backdrop of the elegant and magnificent mansions. While painting
wedding ceremonies, he paid minute attention to the attires of men and women, especially by
detailing the folds of the drapery with their delicate texture in luminous water colours which made
the paintings attractive and popular.
Dhurandhar’s Drawings
Dhurandhar had adapted the discipline to do sketching regularly from his student days and he had
maintained the habit throughout his life. He had about eighty to eighty-five sketchbooks of assorted
sizes which his daughter Ambika Dhurandhar preserved. The sketchbooks comprised of drawings of
people from different places and communities of India
including Mumbai, their colorful attires and scenic
locations. Some of the sketches are in the collection of
the art collectors and museums. His sketch books were
of different sizes- While travelling, he kept pocket size
sketch books of 3” x 6” or 4” x 6”. He sometimes used
large size sketchbooks measuring 10” x 12” or 12” x 15”.
He was in the habit of signing every sketch along with
details such as date, location and title. He invariably used
to make sketches with pen and ink or pencil and would
fill some of the areas with water colours to enhance its
beauty. He assembled all such sketches of women from
different parts of the country into an album titled,
‘Women of India’. The album, which became an instant
success, was monographed and edited by Otto Rothfield,

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District Collector of Alibaug, an art enthusiast and scholar. Similarly,
Dhurandhar had planned to publish another album ‘My wife in Art’
containing the sketches of both the wives Bapubai and Gangubai. It
was dedicated to them with huge love and affection with a moving
preface for the album in his own handwriting. The entire album
revealed the fondness and warmth Dhurandhar had for both the
wives in his life. The most poignant and moving sketch was that of
the dead body of his first wife titled ‘Bapu is dead’. Writer and
journalist Acharya Atre glorified it by calling it ‘Bhava Kavya’- poetics
of emotions.
Book Designing
In those days there was no discrimination between fine art and
commercial art in India. Captain Gladstone Solomon had realized
the need of introducing training for utilitarian forms of art so that
the art students could earn money by working for the new avenues such as advertising, movies and
publishing. But a new section of Commercial Art was started in 1936, after Dhurandhar’s retirement
in 1931 on the suggestion of the new Deputy Director Charles Gerrard. Diploma in Commercial Art
was constituted at J. J. in 1944. Dhurandhar was probably the first artist who worked successfully in
Fine Art and the so called Utilitarian Art of book illustrations, magazine covers and posters.
Dhurandhar’s more than four thousand drawings and illustrations were reproduced in his lifetime.
The books he illustrated were, ‘Tales of Vikramaditya’ and ‘Deccan Nursery Tales’ by C. A. Kincaid,
District Collector of Satara; ‘By the ways of Bombay’ by S. M. Edward, Police Commissioner of
Bombay; ‘Desire of All Nations’ (Bible) by George Francis Enoch; ‘Call of Blood’ by Olivia Stripp;
‘Peoples of Bombay’ by P. C. Stripp and ‘Umar Khayyam’ the English translation by Fritzgerald.
Between 1901 and 1914, he illustrated the epics, ‘Ramayana’, ‘Mahabharata’, ‘Bhagvatgita’,
‘Bhaagavat’, ‘Ganesh Puran’, ‘Shiva Puran’ and ‘Vishnu Puran’ for the magazine ‘Suvarnamala’
published by Shriman Seth Purshottam Vishram Mavji. The magazine published the stories from the
epics accompanied with one illustration in colour and seven to eight illustrations in black and white
done by Dhurandhar. Notably, the magazine was published in different formats, from pocket size to
a large format, so that people from all stratas of life could buy it. For Jaideva’s Classic ‘Gita Govind’,
published by Vijay Press he did twenty four illustrations. Dhurandhar also did illustrations for ‘Shiva
Chhatrapati Charitra’ and ‘Men and Women in Indian History’, books published by Seth Purshottam
Vishram Mavji. Some of the illustrations are in the collection of Sangli Museum today.
Other noteworthy publications for which Dhurandhar worked were ‘Visami Sadi’ the Gujarati
Magazine published by Haji Mohammad Allarakhiya Shivji, ‘Navachetan’ by Chapsi Udeshi and
‘Navyug’ in Marathi. He did six paintings as illustrations, sized four feet by three feet for ‘Sharada’
magazine. The epic ‘Nala Damayanti’ edited by A. K. Priyolkar and published by Balasaheb Pant
Pratinidhi of Aundh was illustrated by Dhurandhar. He also illustrated Kalidasa’s plays ‘Shakuntal’
and romantic poems like ‘Rutusamhar’ and ‘Meghadoot’, Sanskrit plays of Bhaasa and Bhavabhooti
and the collection of Sanskrit verses ‘Ratnavali’. Dhurandhar was a prolific illustrator considering his
contribution to the books in English, Marathi and magazines in regional languages like Marathi,
Hindi, Gujarati, Telugu and Urdu. He also worked for Diwali special issues as well as for the text
books published by Longmans Green and Company and Macmillan. Dhurandhar’s skill in drawing, his
sense of dramatic composition, his attention to details proved to be an advantage for him as an
illustrator. Dhurandhar was aware of the limitations of printing, when books were generally printed
by letterpress and posters by lithography. His illustrations were in the tradition of the British
illustrators, descriptive and narrative in nature. Dhurandhar used different techniques such as line
and halftone, sometimes having graphic qualities of a woodcut or engraving. Artist Dhurandhar
became a household name through such a wide array of his work.

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Calendars and Posters
After Raja Ravi Varma,
Dhurandhar was another
prominent artist to have
reached the masses through
his work. His paintings of the
Hindu idols like Rama and
Sita, myths like Vishwamitra-
Menaka from the epics and
Puranas, saints of
Maharashtra and India were
printed by the renowned
lithographic printing presses
like Ravi Varma Press, Ravi
Uday Press and Chitrashala
Press in Maharashtra. He had
painted the portraits and life size paintings of the British Emperor, King Edward VII and Queen Mary
when they came to India in 1907 and of King George V during his visit to India in 1911. These
portraits were printed as calendars and were carefully framed and adorned the walls of many Indian
homes, shops and offices as a mark of loyalty to the British Empire. Ironically Dhurandhar was asked
to make portraits of important Indian leaders and revolutionaries of the independence struggle
which were also printed and displayed in homes and public places.
Posters designed by Dhurandhar for The Great Indian Peninsular Railway and other Railways played
an important role in spreading Dhurandhar’s name as an artist all over India. These posters
showcased the important places of pilgrimage, towns and cities capturing the scenic beauty of the
places, people in traditional colorful dresses along with a graceful typography to promote tourism. In
all, Dhurandhar did about fourteen posters and were published by the Railways. He was also
assigned by the Tram and Bus Transport services like BEST to design informative posters explaining
their rules and regulations for the general public. As an educational aid, Bombay Presidency’s
Education Department had asked Dhurandhar to design and depict the craftsmen and artizens like
ironsmiths, carpenters, cobblers and postmen in the format of a post card which were later
distributed to all the schools across the nation.
Commissioned works
Dhurandhar was remarkable at creating dramatically appealing paintings in Academic realism. He
was among the six artists who were selected to do murals for the Law Members Room of the
Imperial Secretariat at New Delhi, popularly known as Delhi Decoration which was completed in
1928-29. Dhurandhar’s paintings were titled ‘Streedhanam’, ‘Dattavidhan’, ‘Mrityusamayache Daan’
and ‘Court Scene’. These murals were done in oil on canvas and were pasted on the wall.
Dhurandhar was commissioned by the princely states to paint the important events such as
coronations and other ceremonies, portraits and paintings to decorate the walls of their Palaces. The
Maharaja of Chhota Udaipur commissioned Dhurandhar to paint sixteen murals based on the stories
from the Puranas in 1934. Dhurandhar was commissioned by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad of Baroda
to paint the scene of the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations in 1936. Later on Dhurandhar painted murals
for the Gaekwad’s Baroda Palace in Paris and two paintings of four feet by seven feet for the Laxmi
Vilas Palace of Baroda. He was especially revered with fondness by the Maharaja of Aundh, Shrimant
Bhawanrao Pant Pratinidhi. Bhawanrao had asked him to make portraits, ceremonial paintings along
with paintings on Bhagwat Gita, Nala Damayanti and on the life and times of Chhatrapati Shivaji
Maharaj. Dhurandhar had developed his own style and was more comfortable and proficient while
working in watercolor rather than in oil. His human figures, men and women alike had a feminine

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charm due to their lyrical
contrapposto postures with a
skillful use of light and shade. The
compositions, though full of
proportionate and charming figures
and their expressive body
language, remained primarily on
the level of a narrative. His
paintings hardly made any sublime
and everlasting impression on the
mind of the observers like classical
paintings. It might be because
Dhurandhar was preoccupied more with the illustrations he did for the publishing and advertising
and remained faithful to the Academic realism. His contemporaries A. X. Trindade and L. N. Tasker
pursued higher values in art and their paintings gave a rich experience in comparison to
Dhurandhar’s work. However Dhurandhar’s oeuvre as an artist prevailed due to his constant
sketching, prolific work in diverse areas, excellence in teaching and winning the confidence of his
British superiors.
Starting his career as an Art Teacher at Sir J. J. School of Art in 1896, he was elevated to the post of
Head Master in 1910. He worked as Inspector of Drawing from time to time since 1918 whenever
the Inspector Hogarth went on leave. He was honored by the title ‘Rao Bahadur’ from the British
Government in 1927. When Principal Gladstone Solomon went on leave for six months in 1930,
Dhurandhar was given charge of officiating Director becoming the first Indian to hold that post. He
was granted extension for six times in his service and was once again appointed to the post of
Inspector of Drawing in 1931. He retired from the Sir J. J. School of Art in 1931.
After retirement he continued painting at his residence in Khar, Mumbai. He went on a tour to
Europe with his artist daughter Ambika and his family to see the works of art of European Masters
for whom he had a great respect. On return form Europe he continued painting and wrote his
memoirs of the long period of his life he spent at the Sir J .J. School of Art. He published it under the
title, ‘Kalamandiratil Ekkechalis Varshe’ (‘Forty One Years in the Temple of Art’) in 1940, which has
become an authentic documentation about the history of the Bombay School of that period. He also
contributed articles on many of his contemporaries in magazines like ‘Vasundhara’ and ‘Chitra’ with
a view to introduce them to the public at large.
Dhurandhar’s personality
The fact that many of his students established Art Schools all over the country, is a fitting tribute to
Dhurandhar’s teaching endeavors at J. J. Out of the many articles written in praise of Dhurandhar’s
illustrious career as an artist, art teacher and human being; articles written by Madhavrao Bagal of
Kolhapur in the Diwali Issues of ‘Manohar’, 1936 and ‘Prabhutarun’, 1944 are worth mentioning.
Bagal describes the persona of Dhurandhar as a teacher ‘who wore black long coat, polished black
shoes, with a white ironed pant in stark contrast to the black coat, stiff white collar, flaunted the
traditional red pagdi on his head and had a heavy physique with a round face, thick bushy
moustaches, wide forehead and the gold rimmed glasses he wore, accentuated the overall gravity of
his massive personality. He was the only artist from Maharashtra who commanded immense
respect, power, and position in the society along with earning wealth. Artist Mahadeo Vishwanath
Dhurandhar is synonymous with ingenuity, prudence and creativity’. Dhurandhar had complete faith
in Academic Realism. He was not influenced by the Revivalist movements of Bengal and the Bombay
School in 1920 which laid emphasis on preserving the Indianans in Art. He was not interested in the
movements of Modern Art which started in Mumbai and other parts of the country around 1935,
but he never denounced it. He remained aloof from all these movements. After his death in 1944 his

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Birth Centenary was celebrated by his daughter and artist Ambika Dhurandhar and Dhurandhar Kala
Mandir, Mumbai in 1968. An exhibition was organized and a souvenir was published on the occasion
containing articles on Dhurandhar by eminent artists and his students.
In the course of time, Dhurandhar and his art was either ignored or criticized for his allegiance to the
British rule and his faith in Academic realism and was his paintings were considered as colonial art.
Dhurandhar deserves a far better place in the history of Indian art.
-Dr.Nalini Bhagwat, Suhas Bahulkar Translation: V. S. Dhulap Content edited by: Suhas Bahulkar,
Deepak Ghare.
Artist born during- 1860 to 1920……………………………………..continue
2] Puranik Dattareya Sadashiv.
Born 1885. Died 1983. Painter Artist, He was born at Khed (now Rajguru agar) near Pune-
Maharashtra State. He was in the profession of painting advertisements of household products on
the walls of houses, schools and temples in different parts of India using the various regional
language scripts. In the earlier part of the 20th Century it became a form of outdoor publicity, a
precursor to today’s bill boards. Puranik’s primary education was done at Chakan. As his handwriting
was beautiful, his teachers would admiringly tell him, “Your handwriting will be of great help to you
in future.” When he was around ten years old, his
family shifted to Kasba Peth, Pune. His education
till standard seven was done in Pune. Khole, one
of their neighbors, worked at the
‘Dnyanachakshu’ printing press as a compositor.
Puranik went with him to the printing press,
where he watched and learnt the technique of
writing advertisements on the stones used for
lithography. When the lithographic artist working
at the printing press succumbed to plague and died, his job
was given to Puranik. During this time, He passed the
Drawing Grade Examination. After working for around 2-4
years at the ‘Dnyanachakshu’ printing press, he worked for
the ‘Chitrashala Press’ as a lithographer for some time.
Gaining confidence from the valuable experience of
working in both places, he set up a small printing press of
his own. By dividing a large format poster design on four litho stones, he printed it separately and
joined the four prints together for the magician of that time, Gowarikar’s show. It was well
appreciated and brought in a lot of similar orders for their printing press. Eventually it became a
common practice to print cine posters in pieces and paste them
together in large format. When Puranik’s press began to incur losses,
it was closed down and He moved to Mumbai, settled down at
Girgaon and joined the ‘Karunesh Litho Printing Press’ on Tribhuvan
Road as a lithographer. He learnt from the lithographer Godbole who
was working at the press, how to make a quick sketch based on the
brief given by the client and how to get it approved; commercial

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aspects of the trade and gained knowledge of keeping accounts. While working at the ‘Karunesh’
press, he set up a small signboard painting shop. The manager of the Gandharva Natak Company,
who frequently visited the ‘Karunesh’ printing press, asked Puranik to join Gandharva Natak
Company to paint sign boards for the theatre. He accepted the offer and started working at the
Gandharva Natak Company on a monthly salary of sixty rupees. He would paint the sign boards to
advertise and announce the plays which were displayed at various locations. He did the publicity of
historically important plays such as Bal Gandharva and Keshavrao Bhosale’s ‘Samyukta Manapman’
and ‘Samyukta Saubhadra’. While on his Mumbai-Pune tours with the Gandharva Natak Company,
he did the outdoor publicity for Nogi & Co.’s ‘Makad Chhap’ black tooth powder by painting the
walls of some of the houses in Pune. After seeing these advertisements, Mumbai’s well-known
Dongre Balamrut Company assigned him to paint a similar advertisement of ‘Dongre Balamrut’ on
the wall of a house. Puranik used his creativity when a window of the house interrupted the plain
surface of the wall. Puranik used it to his own advantage by painting the letter ‘DO’ of Dongre as a
large initial letter in the Devanagari script and incorporated the window as a part of the syllable, as
the ‘Anusvar’ or dot. Appreciating Puranik’s imagination and skill over the medium, Dongre, the
owner of the company made out a contract for outdoor publicity with him. In Mumbai, another
painter Muktagiri used to paint advertisements on walls with oil paint, but it was very expensive. He
mixed a higher proportion of gum Arabic in water-based wall paints and started painting walls with
those paints which were less expensive and durable. In the beginning, he would climb the scaffolding
and paint the walls himself but later on hired some assistants. He travelled all over India and painted
advertisements in the regional scripts pertaining to those areas. ‘Dongre Balamrut’ advertisements
were painted on the walls of houses and temples in prominent cities and towns in different regions
of India. This innovative and impressive outdoor publicity made ‘Dongre Balamrut’ a household word
all over India and increased its sales. Similar to ‘Dongre Balamrut’, Puranik painted advertisements of
medicines like ‘Waman Gopal Sarsaparilla’, ‘Zaverian Jeevan Mixture’, ‘Karnik Agyu Mixture’ and
‘Purohit Shwasahari’. Puranik first located the houses where the advertisements could be painted.
He would first negotiate the rental charges of the wall to be used with the house owner. To start the
work, he would first give a coat of pale yellow or blue paint; afterwards he would take a judgment of
the wall, visualize the layout in his mind, would climb the scaffolding and start painting letters
directly on the wall. His advertisements not only built up a brand identity in the minds of semi-
literate masses but the visuals on the walls became a part of the urbanscape or townscape of the
region. Puranik handed over his business to the assistants trained under him and took retirement in
1952. But for religious and social causes he continued to paint signboards at his house free of cost.
At the age of ninety-six he wrote and published an autobiography titled ‘Sanchar Eka Kunchlyacha’ in
1982. Jagatguru Shankaracharya Jereswami Wadikar honored Puranik with the title ‘Chitrakala
Chudamani’. At the age of ninety-eight, Puranik passed away in Pune
Dr. Gopal Nene. Reference: 1. Puranik, D. S., ‘Sanchar Eka Kunchlyacha’, Painter Puranik’s
autobiography, 1982.
3] Kirloskar Shankar Vasudeo.
Born 8/10/1891. Died 1/1/1975. Cartoonist and Editor. Popularly known by his initials, ’Shavaki’,
Shankar Vasudeo Kiloskar was founding editor of ‘Kiloskar’, magazine with progressive approach
towards social reform and rational thought. His contribution as a cartoonist who initiated the art of

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cartoon in Marathi is equally important. He is truly, one of the earliest practitioners of ‘Aesthetics in
Applied Art of Maharashtra’. His father being a doctor and Uncle Laxmanrao Kirloskar the founder of
famous Kirloskar Brothers Engineering Industries, Shankararo keenly interested in none of the above
professions but firmed about becoming fine artist. He took a formal training in art from R. W.
Deuskar and Pandit S. D. Satwalekar in Hyderabad and Lahore. [Today in Pakistan] He came to
Mumbai and joined in 1913 Sir J. J. School of Art and trained under Artist and Teacher M. V.
Dhurandhar. He wanted to study further in Europe but changed his mind due to ailing mother. He
decided to join his Uncle’s growing Industry at Kirloskarwadi. He became the editor of their House
Journal and publication ‘Kirloskar Khabar’ in 1916. It was earlier limited to only their industrial
complex but later became the most progressive Marathi magazine promoting reforms in Society in
general. Here he in 1925 contributed his own art of cartoons and enhanced the visual literacy
amongst the readers. It was continued for next thirty years. The earlier attempts were made by
others for ‘Hindu Punch’ in 1904 to 1908. He defined the art of cartoon drawing with following
vision: A] Personal Development: These cartoons exhort youth about the qualities they need to
nurture for self-development; they advise them to cast away laziness, to create confidence in
themselves and to work hard, diligently and honestly to overcome poverty. B] Social Development:
He created cartoons depicting the values a society needs for making all-round progress. These
cartoons urge us to set aside false, outdated beliefs and superstations and encourage having a
rational attitude based on scientific facts. C] Political Cartoons: These cartoons highlighted the
exploitation under British rule. They encouraged making use of ‘Swadeshi’ Indian products instead of
using British goods, retaining religious harmony despite the divisive politics of the British and so on.
The cartoons also commented on current topics such as the Second World War, the working of the
Congress Party and Mahatma Gandhi’s vision. Later, on the occasion of Kirloskar’s hundredth birth
anniversary in 1990, a collection of selected cartoons from all three of the above said groups was
published under the title, ‘SHANVAKI: SHABDA VA RESHA’
[S. V. Kirloskar: Words and Lines]. His cartoon’s reflected
his sound base of drawing skills. The figures in his cartoons
were always well-proportioned; the perspective, anatomy
and compositions were always done with care. He tried to
create the roundness and massiveness through shading,
instead just drawing in outlines as in a two dimensional
space. He also did humorous illustrations for short stories
in his magazines. His cartons are the nice document today
which is a chronicler a bygone era spanning hundred years.
Its humorous and educative journey for today’s
generation. His social reforms ideas makes these cartoons
most memorable. His belief in art not as an end in itself
but as a powerful vehicle for cultural and social evolution
is reflected in his work. -Vasant Sarwate. Ref: 1.Kirloskar
Shanta, "Gosht Pasashtichi”; 2. Shanvaki: Janmashatabdi
Smritigranth, published by Shanvaki Smarak Samiti-Pune
1990.

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4] Adarkar Vishnu Namdeo
Born 23/8/1908 [Vengurla – Kokan] Died 13/5/1994. Art Educationist
and Administrator.
The first Director of the newly formed the Directorate of Art
[Maharashtra State in 1965] and an avid proponent of education in
applied art. He was appointed the deputy director of the Sir J. J. School of
Art in 1939. He spent a year from 1946 to 1947 in England studying the
system of Art education there. He was Head of the applied art
Department during 1946 to 1958. In 1958, Sir J. J. Institute of Applied Art
was formed as an independent institute and Adarkar was appointed as
the first Dean on 1st
January 1961 till 1968. He was one of the founders of
the commercial artist Guild known as Cag in 1948/49. Since 1950 Cag was
active in Delhi, Madras, Calcutta, Bombay and Indore. He prepared the
first report draft in 1964 to establish ‘Training in Industrial Design’. It is
known today as Industrial Design Centre [IDC] at I.I.T. Powai-Mumbai. He
became a consultant at IDC for five years after it was set up in 1969.
Adarkar a visionary who sensed how art was changing in time with the
socio-cultural environment, had an inherent capacity to organize and
consolidate human skills to achieve success. His contacts with higher
echelons of government and his administrative skills to achieve success.
Although the credit for starting the department of commercial art at Sir J.
J. School of Art in 1935 goes to Charles Gerrard, Deputy Director [1934-1937] and Director [1937-
1947], Adarkar helped him develop it. Eventually he nurtured both this department and its later
incarnation, the department of Applied Art. Gerrard and Adarkar were more practical than academic
by temperament. Gerrard was convinced that art students could be more useful socially if they
learned modern techniques of artistic expression. He made efforts to introduce students to the field
in which they could utilize art to earn a living. Gerrard and Adarkar were instrumental in promoting
and encouraging the participation of art institutions such as J. J. in publishing government policies
and projects related to social causes, thus making the artist the active member of society. Adarkar
had proposed the setting up of an Industrial Design Training Centre. Visual communication embraces
several disciplines developed from progressive concepts of advertising, applied art and design.
Adarkar led the foundation for an art education that would complement and navigate the growing
complexity of the field. On his return from England in 1947, he had written a report on art education
that was published by the government. He was a first Life Fellow of the Central Institute of Art and
Design, London. -Ranjan Joshi, Deepak Ghare. Ref: Kelkar N. M. ‘Story of Sir J. J. School of Art’-
published by Maharashtra Government.
5] Hattangadi Raghavendra V.
Born 23/5/1909- Died 26/5/1959. Cartoonist. In the early years of Marathi cartooning of the 1930s
and 1940s were based on day to day life and sensibilities of the middle class. He brought in subjects

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which were far beyond the periphery of middle class and proved his
talent as a cartoonist. His style was unique from his contemporaries.
He was full of life and that was reflected in his work.
A playful manner and humorous characters were his style. It shows
his drawing skills in human figures and sense of composition. The
facial as well as bodily expressions and ability to convey emotional
shades were remarkable. Most of his cartoons carry happy mood. -
Vasant Sarwate.
6] Kelkar Raghunath Balkrishna.
Born 22/5/1908 Died 16/4/2004. Cartoonist, Artist and Art Teacher. A cartoonist from 1930s with a
socio-political view point, he was born in Dhule-Maharashtra. As a child he used to gaze curiously at
the cartoons from ‘Punch’ the famous British magazine devoted to humour which was regularly
subscribed in their house. Famous reformer Sane Guruji was his teacher in the school.
He encouraged him to draw regularly for their school’s handwritten magazine. Famous Editor of
Marathi Publication S. W. Kirloskar saw Kelkar’s work and
appointed him in ‘Kirloskar’ magazine and his first illustration
published in it in 1929. The freedom moment against the then
British Rulers he turned to cartoons that invited political
gatherings and meetings. He did cartoons for the magazine
called ‘Udyam’ devoted to vocational issues and self-help
crafts. During Second World War poor people of India faced
many hardships such as rising prices. Drought and scarcity of
commodities. They were all burden with harsh taxes. He
addressed these problems with a concern for the poor and gave expression to their plight through
his cartoons. In one of them he made an acerbic comment on the miserable conditions of the Indian
farmers during those days, which is true even today! The farmers in this cartoon bogged down by so
many burdens-illiteracy, loans taken from moneylenders and taxes. He says, “If you lift these
burdens, I can produce enough crops for everyone, and forever.” He used to visit hospitals,
courtrooms to study different types of people, faces to sharpen his drawing and cartooning skills. His
works of Portraits of Senapati Bapat and Maharishi Karve done from life are displayed in a museum
in Leningrad. He established Pragat Kala Mahavidyala at Ahmednagar. – Prashant Kulkarni.
7] Rao Umesh.
Born 1910 Date of Death not available. Applied Artist. He is one who gave a
visual identity to the Maharaja of Air India as its official mascot, was born in
Madras [Chennai]. He migrated to Mumbai in 1932 and joined ‘The Times of
India’ in 1933. Charles Moorhouse was his boss and V. N. Adarkar, Ratan
Batra were his colleagues. He started doing cartoons on the advice of the
editor. In 1936 he joined J. Walter Thompson advertising agency during that
time he created the Maharaja of Air India as its official mascot. It was
originally conceived by Booby Kooka, commercial director of

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Air India. Kooka used to publish bulletin for the Tata Air Lines. Rao did cartoons for that bulletin. This
creation of Rao within a short time, the respectful looking royal prince in his red outfit with an
arched nose, heavy mustache and a turban on his head became a cultural icon of Indian Life. In
1950s Maharaja gained fame as he was shown on the posters of Air India in various roles as lovelorn
romantic from Paris, a Sumo wrestler from Japan and a Red Indian from America. This is the most
popular campaigns in the Indian advertising of that period. He painted few early posters for Air India
which are today collectors’ items as art objects. –Ranjan Joshi, Deepak Ghare.
8] Wakankar Laxman Sridhar.
Born 17/9/1912. Died 15/1/1999. Scriptologist. An eminent epigraphist who did basic research to
create Devnagari and all other Indian regional scripts on the computer, and helped make them
compatible with digital technology. He was born and brought up in Guna cantonment of Madhya
Pradesh (Central India). Script Researcher and Entrepreneur. Pioneer script researcher who brought
Devnagari and all regional Indian scripts on computer technology that opened doors to digital era.
An entrepreneur besides being researcher was born and brought up in Guna cantonment of Madhya
Pradesh (Central India, His father had transferable job because of which the family had to move from
place to place in India. His parents were culturally well versed with Veda and Indian heritage. This
background helped him grow holistically and
travelling with parents introduced him to
various Indian languages. This is how he could
cultivate interest in scripts. The idea of
nationalism was deep rooted by his parent.
“Asha Products” manufacturing of cosmetic
products and “Chromo prints” serigraphy or
silkscreen printing work was his main
professions but his real inclination was towards
fundamental research. He observed and
studied various issues which were the hurdles
to ascent Indian and Devnagari scripts on new
computer technology for that he created innovative solution based on Indian language Phonetics. He
had inborn artistic sense with the result letterforms beauty was his focus behind research inputs. A
socially conscious Wakankar along with likeminded friends such as then Deputy Director of the
Government Printing Press Mr.Bapurao Naik, Mr. R. Subbu of Tata Press’s general manager and
calligrapher, applied artist, art educationist Prof. R. K. Joshi formed “Akshar Sanshodhan Mandal” a
script research group to investigate modern connectivity of Indian Language Scripts which was active
for a long time. In 1968 he wrote a book on “Ganesh Vidya: The Indian Traditional approach to
phonetic writing”. He was continuously involved in this subject. 6 to 9th November 1967 the
conference “ITP” at Paris gave him an opportunity to present the part on phonetics from this book
that gave him new identity as Scriptologist worldwide. In January 1978 he joined with Dr. Sudhir
Mudur of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research’s department called “National Center for software
technology” and his colleague Dr. Piyush Ghosh to develop the software based on the concept of
phonetics atom-molecule that ascent Indian and Devnagari scripts on new computer technology by
means of input and output systems. This was a breakthrough in the evolution of Indian scripts that

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connected modern science. Wakankar and Dr. Sudhir Mudur took patent for this research in 1978.
The Devnagari letterforms were designed by Prof. R.K.Joshi. Wakankar had conceptualized this on
the Maheshwari sutra (formula) the one before known Panini grammar of Indian languages. He took
the cognizance of A.B.Walawarkar’s research on Brahmi script the one before the great Ashokan
period. ‘K’ letter in Devnagari for guttural, ‘CH’ for palatal, ‘TA’ lingual, ‘T’ dental, ‘PA’ for labial this
classification provided scientific base for phonetic atom-molecule. In the letter contains voice tone,
consonant and measure that enhances group such as ‘A’, ‘AA’, ‘IEE’etc.are the elements that forms
52 phonetics. This was fitting in the language of standard computer software system called ‘AXCI’
(ASCIII) code. Since all Indian languages are Brahmi based script it became easier to ascent on
computer. Remington, Godrej, and Halda all these typewriting machines have Devnagari and
Guajarati type fonts created by Wakankar. ‘Institute of Typographical Research’Pune known as “ITR”
was founded by him with two partners Prof. Mukund Gokhale applied artist and typographer and
Mr. Vasantrao Bhatt M.D. of “Exporto Engravers” This is was a milestone in Indian regional
languages script digital history. They pioneered work in the area of Letter-Font designing, Key board
designing, Dotmatrics designs a total one shop professional research business practice. It was
operating on International standards that brought Indian Scripts to global market known as
“SWADESH’. This was assessable to all in business communication. Wakankar was the visionary who
encourage concept like “Calligraphy, Lettering and Typography of INDIC SCRIPTS” better known as
“CALTIS” research seminars and conferences in Pune and all over India with his trusted two partners
to create awareness about Indic scripts. They published three volumes “CALTIS” 1983, 1984, 1985 of
all the conference which is valuable documentation of Th is subject. He published and edited from
1987 to 1997 a journal called “Aksharrachna” devoted to print and graphic arts. All this is considered
as an authentic research work. He has to his credit more than 50 research papers devoted to
Computer, Scripts, and Indian History/Culture. He was such all sided personality was most humble
and human, his younger brother world famous archeologist V.S.Wakankar who excavated first cave
painting “BHIMBETKA” in India. Wakankar died in Ujjain, India. -Mukund Gokhale. Ref: 1.
Walavarkar, A. B. ’Pre -Ashokan Brahmi: A study on the Origin of Indian Alphabet’ [Maheshwari
Phonography], Messrs Muni Bros, Mumbai 1951; 2. Wakankar L. S. ‘Ganesh Vidya: The Traditional
Indian Approach to Phonetic Writing’ Script Study Group-Mumbai 1968.
9] Bhadsavle Govind Dhondo
Born 1914-Died 30/11/1984. Publicity Designer. He was the first student to enroll for Commercial
Art Class at Sir J. J. School of art. The course was started in 1935 by Charles Gerrard who was then
Deputy Director. He became the Director and brought about changes in art education, introducing a
modernist approach while exploring the Utilitarian
aspects of art through various avenues and applications.
Bhadsavle was in the third year of the fine art course
when Gerrard saw him working in the class room one
day and advised him to study commercial art. At first
Bhadsavle was reluctant but soon followed Gerrard’s
advice. He was also guided by then Deputy Director
Adarkar in this new concept of art education. At the
start of his career Bhadsavle created posters for the

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Metro Cinema. According to his own account he painted around ten thousand cine publicity posters.
Later he formed his own Ajanta Arts Advertisers, doing publicity designs for big producers from Hindi
cinema industry. He made his mark in Marathi films industry. This was early 40s when adverting
industry was in its infancy. The unique style of poster design evolved which was curious mixture of
fine art and calendar art that has mass appeal. Bhadsavle was the important link in the development
of this genre during the years of his practice. -Ranjan Joshi, Deepak Ghare.
10] Prabhu R. R.
Date of birth and death not available. Advertising Photographer. He could be called one of the
pioneers of photography in field of advertising. He started photography in a tiny room in 1930s. He
secured a job in Cine Laboratories in 1936. Later he joined the film production unit in same place
around 1940 and became professional still photographer. He worked for two/three years in the dark
room of the Army Film Center in 1942 to
1944. The blast in Bombay docks in 1944 he
was sent to capture the photo shoot images
which were more than thousand in just four
days. After setting his own studio he received
assignment from Stronach Advertising to
photograph the wild elephants of Khedda
district for ‘LIFE’ magazine. Another
advertising D. J. Keymer assignment to shoot
tea plantations in India. The first
advertisement where his photography was
used published in ‘Times of India’ by Sista’s
Advertising. Advertisements had then use of
mostly illustrations. The printing technology
was not so advanced so photographer like Prabhu had to understand the technical aspects for
quality reproduction. He had models ranging from Mothers, Housewives, little children and film
stars. He used to create right atmosphere before clicking the picture so it would connect with copy
writing content. He was most busy photographer in advertising profession of 1940s/1960s then,
since this field was new. He was honored by the ‘Hall of fame’ in 1984 by Communication Arts
Guild.-Mumbai [Cag- formally known commercial artist guild.] –Deepak Ghare, Ranjan Joshi.
11] Prayagi Prabhakar Vishnu.
Born 13/7/1915. Died 10/2/2005. Medical Art Illustrator. He was born in Khandva-Madhya
Pradesh-India. He is the first medical illustrator in postmodern Independent India. He learnt printing
in his grandfather’s press ‘Subodh Sindhu’ press which was doing printing work for Government of
India. Alumnus of Sir J. J. School of Art from the batch of commercial art-1951. He became an expert
in lithography. He worked for ‘The Free Press Journal’. On the advice of his Prof. Dean V. N. Adarkar
he joined the ‘Tata Cancer Hospital in 1951. Those days medical art was new in India. Taking into
account the requirements of the doctors and researchers, he prepared many medical research
related drawings with accuracy, without having any advanced technological tools. There was no
advanced medical equipment for pathological tests and research in those days. Medical researchers

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had to rely on the microscope to learn about the inner
structure of the body and human cells. He prepared
many drawings and film transparencies for the
renowned team of researchers and doctors like Dr.
K.K. Date, Dr. Bawdekar, Dr. Jassawala and
organizations like the Indian Cancer Society, UDCT to
circulate the findings of medical research to others.
He designed today’s famous logo of a crab depicting
cancer for the Indian Cancer Society in 1952. He also
worked as a still photographer to document the visits
of distinguish guest attending conferences and
meetings. He was good craftsman who have acquired
skill in preparing fine graceful stencils which were
used for ‘Indian rangoli’ powder art. As an applied
artist he designed several medical brochures and
publicity material for the same organization. It may
appear today his work on a primitive level but it was he created a new branch when no resources
were available after the independence of India from the British rule. Medical Art has evolved now as
a separate branch of applied art in which regular academic courses are offered in foreign countries.
Medical Art is defined as the art which is a visualization of medical and biological information with
clarity, done through a combination of drawing skills and virtual reality. Medical artists have to study
medicine, science and communication skills, photography, animation and digital technologies are
being used. The foundation of this art mainly laid by the famous renaissance painter Leonardo da
Vinci five hundred years ago.
Prabhakar Vishnu Prayagi during his tenure trained two future medical artist namely Madhu Patil
and Sushil Kadam. Madhukar Atamaram Patil acquired his diploma in applied art in 1970. He worked
as micro-photographer in the zoology department at the Institute of Science-Mumbai, Afterwards he
worked as a scientific artist at the Indian Council of Medical Research. He joined the Tata Cancer
Hospital as medical photographer and went to the U.S to study Biomedical Communication at the
Texas University, U.S. He prepared transparences needed for presentations by various medical
organizations. Sushil Kadam after his diploma in applied art in 1972 was appointed as an expert in
microphotography at the Institute of Research in Reproduction at Parel-Mumbai. The research on
the test tube baby was on the underway Kadam photographed and documented every step in the
process of experimentation and prepared transparencies needed to do the slide presentation for
various lectures by the researchers. Kadam was sent to study advanced technology at the
Rockefeller University, U.S. in 1997. On his returned he helped in propagating the technique of
electro-microscopy by means of visual art. Today it is progressing with the advancement in the
medical field in India. Prayagi who initiated this art in India and aptly took further by his followers
like Madhu Patil and Sushil Kadam were all alumnus of Sir J. J. Institute Applied Art. We have
appreciate the vision of then dean Prof. Dean V. N. Adarkar of this institute who encouraged Prayagi
seventy years ago in Maharashtra to open new branch of visual art. –Ranjan Joshi, Deepak Ghare.

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12] Oke V. N.
Born 17/10/1917. Died 23/3/1998. Graphic Artist and Caricaturist. Shenoy Vasudev Narasimha alias
V. N. Oke known across the country for his excellent pen and ink portraits of noted writers, leaders,
scientists and politicians etc. He was born in Mulki, a small village located between Mangalore and
Udapi-Karnataka. . Artist N. E. Puram used to conduct art classes in Girgaon-Mumbai, Oke while
working for living attended them in morning hours before joining Sir J. J. School of Art. 1943 he
received his diploma in Drawing and Painting. He was involved in the India’s Freedom Struggle and
active in Gandhji’s satyagrah and was imprisoned for six weeks which created lots of restrictions for
his studies. During prison he did portraits of freedom fighters. He worked for Green Art Studio where
he created show-cards based on the photography works of M. Bashir. He worked at a printing press
in Girgaon-Mumbai and some 150 odd illustrations for books on the
independence struggle from 1857 to 1946
written by socialist Yusuf Meherally. He
developed a technique which blended the
classical fine art approach of drawings and
the cross-hatched lines of copper engraving
prints from graphic arts to achieve a rich
texture of tonal values. His work mainly based
on photographs but meant for printing
reproduction. One of his exhibition was
inaugurated by Kamladevi Chattopadhyay
held in Mumbai’s Chetna Restaurant. He did
illustrations for Sane Guruji’s ‘Sadhna’
publications, Communist Party’s mouthpiece ‘Janta’ and Rashtra
Sevadal’s calendars and textbooks. His vivid, eye-opening illustrations of
‘The torture of the political prisoner’ during the Emergency imposed by
then Indian Prime Minister Ms. Indira Gandhi caught the attention of
national and international institutions like Amnesty International,
Socialist International and Human Rights Commission, bringing him
international recognition. His works of portraits are chronicle of a bygone
era, evoking for viewers the spirit that had stirred them. -Subhash Pawar.
Ref: 1. Adhunik Bharat Ke Nirmata [collection of drawings], 1988, 2.
Bhavan’s Journal, ‘O’key-An Unusual Artist, 1st
August 1994; 3. Sanghavi Prabhubhai, ‘V.N.Oke: Ek
Namra Kalakar’ [V. N. Oke: A Humble Artist.]-Aple Mahanagar-24th
March 1998.
13] Sarma P. N.
Born 19/8/1919. Date of death not available. Creative Art Director. One of the most influential
visualizers of the 1940s. He was born in Kasaragod, now in Kerala state. After the school education
he completed art education from Trivandrum [Thiruvananthapuram] and Madras [Chennai]. He
joined advertising department of ‘The Madras Mail’. He took up a job as a designer in the war
services exhibition department of information and broadcasting of the then British Government in
1942. He toured all over India with the exhibition and finally came to Bombay [Mumbai] in 1944.

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He became senior in-between animator at the Cartoon Film Unit of the
films Division under the British Government of India in 1945. He joined D.
J. Keymer & Co. Ltd., as its senior artist in 1946. He was deputed to the
London office in 1948. While working there, he took admission in Central
School of Arts and Crafts in the evening classes to become proficient in
illustration and typography. He travelled to France, Switzerland and Italy
before returning to India in 1950. D. J. Keymer & Co. Ltd., was one of the
international advertising agencies operating in India along with J. Walter
Thompson and Stronach. Many visualizers working under him at Bomas
[formerly D. J. Keymer & Co. Ltd., merged in Benson] became famous
later in their career. Sarma was first person to introduce system of
categorizing them as illustrator, typographer etc., as all were just artist.
He insisted on the importance of the artist in the production process of
an advertisement. His advertising campaign for Burma Shell is most iconic toady. His cartoon style
was unique. The use of black mass and sharp lines, evoking the feel of scraper board illustrations,
animated characters, and dynamic lyrical visual impact were his hallmarks of his layout. His article in
Cag’s annual of 1956 on the subject, ‘Humour in Advertising’ describes two types of cartoons 1] the
one that depicts an incident or happening, situation etc. 2] Cartoon that focuses on the
characteristics of an individual. According to him the second type of cartoon was more useful in
advertising. He had his doubts about the usefulness of cartoons in increasing the sale of the product,
but was convinced that cartoons certainly attracted the attention of the viewers. In the crowded
space of advertisements, the cartoon based advertisement brought a relief he believed. –Deepak
Ghare.
14] Padhye Balkrishna Yadneshwar.
Born 10/12/1920. Died 12/5/2005. Advertising Professional. Founder of the first ever Marathi
Language and allied agency and publicity business known as ‘BYP.’ He comes the place Chandansar
near Virar, Mumbai-Maharashtra State. He could manage to learn up to vernacular final [Its 7th
grade
school during the British rule]. He came to Mumbai and worked as door-keeper then projectionist at
Broadway Cinema Theater. While working for the famous Indian film producer Chimanal Shah he
started thinking about an advertising and publicity services. Chimanal Shah encourage him and ‘BYP’
was born on 9th
April 1959. It looked after the advertising and publicity requirements of small-scale
manufactures, travel services and theater companies. He was socially well connected with the result
he could built up gathering experts from various fields and his brand became trusted in this
profession. His wife and sister-in-law were firmly backing him in his venture. His good-will helped
him in getting the iconic design of ‘BYP’ visualized and created by the famous artist
Dinanath Dalal. Its Trumpet embedded with letters BYP. Today its trusted brand for
small products owners who have managed their advertising and publicity services
within reasonable budgets. To name few like Shakuntala Hair Oil, Anjali
Kitchenware, Shisa Opticians and Raj Oil Mills. His classified Marathi
advertisements reflects sensibilities and preferences of the time. The difference
between the bid advertising agencies and the small ones is similar to that between
big corporate houses and small-scale manufacturers. Big advertising have their

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impact over wider area, nationally, internationally, while the smaller ones like ‘BYP’ focus on the
local market. They have to understand the taste and mindset of the local buyers and create effective
advertisement within constraints of their budgets. The publicity agency like ‘BYP’ do everything from
booking space in newspapers to getting art works done for their adverting. It may appear as a small
thing but they make an impact and contribution towards preserving cultural identity of a specific
region though graphics and language. ’BYP’ reflects the changing face of the entertainment industry
and the growth of professionalism in service sector of coaching classes, and travel agencies over a
period of more than sixty years since its foundation.
-Ranjan Joshi. Deepak Ghare.
Artist born during 1920 to 1940………………………………………………………
By Ranjan Raghuvir Indumati Joshi
1. Born 18/2/1921. Died 24/7/2007- Lachke Harishchandra
Bhagwant, Cartoonist.
2. Born 24/10/1921. Died 26/1/2015- R. K. Laxman.
Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Laxman, Cartoonist.
3. Born 15/12/1922- Kadam D. K. - Cartoonist.
4. Born 1922. Arde Nagesh Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, Cartoonist.
5. Born 1922- Died 1978 Waghulkar S.V., Concept Visualizer.
6. Born 1924. Died 6/3/1987 Gore Prabhakar, Illustrator and
Book Designer.
7. Born 28/9/1924. Died 1/11/1996 Kawadi Prabhashankar,
Illustrator.
8. Born 11/8/1925. Died 12/5/2010. Patki Balkrishna Gopal.
[Bhai Patki] Creative Art Director.
9. Born 1925. - ?... Sanzgiri Ramesh V., Creative Art Director.
10. Born 29/7/1925. Phadnis Shivram Dattatreya, Cartoonist.
11. Born 2/5/1926. Died 11/12/2011. Mario de Miranda,
Cartoonist.
12. Born 11/3/1927. Died 15/1/1999. Palnitkar Vishvanath
Mahadev, Advertising Professional.
13. Born 5/4/1927-Died 3/4/1996. Gawankar Vasant Devrao,
Cartoonist.
14. Born 3/2/1927. Died 24/12/2016. Sarwate Vasant
Shankar. Cartoonist.
15. Born 23/1/1927. Died 17/11/2012. Thackeray Bal Keshav.
Cartoonist.
16. Born 2/12/1927. Died 1999. Thokal Prabhakar. Cartoonist.
17. Born 23/11/1928. Pereira Brendan Conan. Creative Art
Director.
18. Born 26/4/1930. Died 19/9/2000. Chaudhary Yeshwant T.
Corporate Graphic Designer and Art Educationist.
19. Born 24/4/1930. Thakur Bhalchandra Shivaram. Book
Designer.
20. Born 27/6/1930. Died 10/12/2003. Thackeray Shrikant
Keshav. Cartoonist.
21. Born 1/11/1931. Died 25/9/2004 Kolatkar Arun Balkrishna.
Graphic Artist & Poet.
22. Born 26/8/1931, Died 11/10/2019. Ram Mohan. Bhat Ram
Mohan Subray, Animator.
23. Born 6/9/1931 Died 15/10/2015. Raut Shantaram
Kasinath. Graphic Designer.
24. Born 12/2/1932. D’Silva Roby James Francis. Corporate
Graphic Designer.
25. Born 9/7/1932. Died 3/11/2018. Gadkari Madhusudan
Shankar. Creative Art Director.
26. Born 8/8/1932. Died 30/10/1999. Halbe Vasant Balvant.
Cartoonist.
27. Born 1933. Died 1993. Rege Gajanan M. Mass
Communication Educationist.
28. Born 4/1/1933. Sapre Manhor Shridhar. Cartoonist.
29. Born 23/8/1934. Died 30/11/2000. Joshi Shyam Lakshman,
Cartoonist.
30. Born 28/4/1934. Sahasrabuddhe Padma nee Gore.
Illustrator and Book Designer.
31. Born 22/11/1934. Died 25/4/2019. Samant Vasant
Gajanan. Animator.
32. Born 22/6/1935. Shedge, Kamal Jayant, Calligrapher and
Typographer.
33. Born 15/11/1936. Died 10/7/2017. Tendulkar Mangesh
Dhondopant. Cartoonist.
34. Born 29/8/1936. Shendge Bheemashankar Ramchandra.
Animator.
35. Born 22/2/1936. Died 8/2/2008 Joshi Raghunath Krishna.
Calligrapher, Type font Designer and Poet.
36. Born 1/7/1936. Died 18/1/2007. Mulik Pratap
Ramchandra. Illustrator.
37. Jain Panna: Born 10/10/1938.
Creative Art Director.
38. Born 17/8/1936. Died 9/8/2018. Pawar Shantaram
Dhondo. Graphic Artist, Art Teacher and Poet.
39. Born 5/7/1937 Died 6/4/2018. Dheer Sudarshan Devraj,
Graphic Designer.
40. Born 1938. Gurav Shravan Gopal. Creative Art Director.
41. Born 6/9/1938. Irani Jamshed Pirolshaw. Naturalist Artist.
42. Born 5/6/1939. Paradkar Vijay Ramchandra. Cartoonist.
15. Lachke Harishchandra Bhagwant.
Born 18/2/1921. Died 24/7/2007. Cartoonist. Born in Bhum, Osmanabad district-Maharashtra.
He use to see British and American Magazines in the grocery shops for packing goods which was the
first exposure of cartoons. His art talent was first noticed by his elder brother who took him to
Aundh. The ruler of Aundh State Artist himself Bhawanrao Pant Pratinidhi who was a great

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connoisseur of art. Harishchandra got the admission for his art
education. He went to Pune to learn from artist Puram. In 1943 he
completed his diploma from Sir J. J. School of Art in Drawing and
Painting. S. V. Kirloskar of famous ‘Kirloskar’ publication
encouraged him to art of cartoon drawing. He focused on Family
topics, which were appreciated by many readers. He also did
cartoons for the bulletin of the Congress political party. In the
party’s news bulletin ‘Lokshakti’. His cartoon on Second World War
titled ‘Atomic Egg has hatched’ was success because it was
depicting the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. A
cartoon showing a chick coming out of an atomic bomb shell,
holding a small olive branch in its beak appealing for peace. This
was published on the front page of Times of India 17th
August 1945. It was an achievement in itself.
He handled occasionally serious topics with black humour during the war as rationing, blackouts, and
shortage of essentials.
In one of his striking cartoon showed painful side of the rationing days where he showed people
standing in a queue carrying dead bodies over their shoulders to get the kerosene for funeral. He
tried his hand in three animation films but did not work. He tried other options like block-making,
photography, playing table and gardening. The collections of were published in book form ‘Hasa ani
Lattha Wha’ [Laugh and Become Healthy]. The successive deaths of his wife, daughter and son who
was a physician, brought unsustainable grief that led to his death soon. Lachke led a contented and
peaceful life. -Shakuntala Phadnis.
16. R. K. Laxman. Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Laxman.
Born 24/10/1921. Died 26/1/2015. Cartoonist. He was born in Mysore. He is India’s most popular
internationally known cartoonist. His father was principal who had school library having western
periodicals like ‘Punch’, ‘Harpers’ and ‘Atlantic’ through which Laxman was introduced to the world
of cartoons. His elder brother famous author R. K. Narayan played an important role in the
upbringing. Laxman was a self-taught artist. He worked in Blitz, The Free Journal and finally settled in
Times of India. He created history through his cartoon art in this
publication for five decades.
He was influence by David Low’s cartoon drawing with brush in black ink.
When Laxman made caricatures, line drawings were preferred to half-
tone pictures due to printing limitations of
newspaper. The illustrated weekly of India
issues gave him the advantage of water
colours. Then G.M. of Times J. C. Jain asked him
to create something from common man’s point
of view and this omnipresent iconic character
‘Common Man’ which appeared on the front
page of Times of India in 2nd
December 1957.
This ‘Common Man’ would be present
anywhere at critical situations as an observer

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with quizzical look on his face. This bespectacled common man with his moustache and cheeked
coat remained the silent spectator of events becoming the conscience of the nation. His pocket
cartoons ‘You Said It!’ became daily feature of the newspaper. He went to England and meet many
leaders, intellectuals, poets and politicians. He could see human nature behind such people which
reflected in his caricatures of bigwigs. It was the ‘dignified Irreverence’ in his work that set him apart
from others. Apart from political cartoons he did handled subjects like economy, science and many
others. The cartoons he did for ‘Science Today’ were fine example of wit and humour related to
specialized fields. He illustrated books of his brother R. K. Narayan and even for other authors also.
Asian Paints cartoon sketch of ‘Gattu’ became popular mascot one of the reasons R. K. Laxman’s
powerful drawing. He was a commentator whose sensitive mind was aware of the changing
surroundings. He had the knack of tracing the ironies and inconsistences behind the double speak of
politicians presented in tangible graphic style making complicated issue simple. His cartoons had
satire, a dignified sense of humour, visual puns and a balance of courage and caution while
expressing his views. He was not just cartoonist but a fine artist who painted Crows with keen
observation made them effective. He wrote novels, and autobiography ‘The Tunnel of Time’. It has
been translated in Marathi which aptly titled ‘Laxmanrekha’. Padma Bhushan in 1973, He was
honored with ‘Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1984, A commemorative postal stamp featuring common
man was released in 1988 and Padma Vibhushan in 2005. A retrospective exhibition of his cartoons
was organized by Nehru Centre Art Gallery-Mumbai in 2013. He passed away in 2015. –Madhukar
Dharmapurikar, Deepak Ghare.
Ref: 1. Laxman R. K. ‘The Best of Laxman’, Vol.2.Penguin Books, India. 1993. 2. Ketkar Kumar, Editor
the Times of India: Faces: The Millennium Series: Through the Eyes of R. K. Laxman, Bennet Coleman
& Co. Ltd. Mumbai-2000, 3. Times of India, 28th Jan.2015.
17. Kadam D. K.
Born 15/12/1922 Died: 31/7/2014. - Cartoonist. His ancestors had migrated from Jhansi to Kota in
the 18th
century. He did his B.Com. From Lucknow University and came to Mumbai where he came
to complete commercial art diploma from Sir J. J. Institute of Applied Art. As a student he was
already recognized as cartoonist whose work published in ‘The Bombay Chronicle, Janmabhoomi,
Bombay Samachar and Blitz etc.’ In 1950s political cartoons came of age as English and regional
language newspapers began to publish cartoons. Kadam was amongst eminent cartoonist like R. K.
Laxman who rose to fame then. He became fulltime cartoonist during 1950s with ‘Navbharat Times’
the daily of Times of India Group-Mumbai. He worked there till 1983 and continued creating cartoon
strips till 2002 well after his retirement. When then
India’s first Prime Minister visited one of his
exhibitions in 1957, he praised his work and in
appreciation of Kadam’s depiction of the ‘common
man’ with his bent posture, Nehru himself bowed
down before the cartoon in a mock salute to the
common man and its creator. He won many awards
the most noteworthy are the Global Award for Media
Excellence given by the population Institute of
Washington-USA. A gold medal as best cartoon by the

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Watumal Foundation, Hawaii, USA. His English-Hindi book named ‘Challenge Accepted’ on India-
Pakistan war which has received critical acclaim. -Vasant Sarwate.
18. Arde Nagesh
Born 1922. Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh. Cartoonist. He became well-
known for his cartoons which depicted the humor in the daily life
of typical middle-class family from Maharashtra. Arde did
illustrations and cartoons for magazine thought these years. His
cartoons reflected the drawing skills he had acquired during his
art education. His cartoons were published in Udyam – a reputed
magazine devoted to agriculture, popular technology and repair
maintenance of home appliances. It belonged to the genre of
magazines such as ‘Popular Mechanics’ in the Western World. –
Madhukar Dharmapurikar.
19. Waghulkar S.V.
Concept Visualizer 27th
September 1922 Died: 11th
December 1978. Legendary artist and visualizer
of the art of Indian Advertising. Waghulkar S.V., Alumnus of Sir J.J.School of art, received his diploma
in drawing and painting in 1944 and completed simultaneously diplomas in commercial art (applied
art) and sculpture. He obtained a job in Indian Army then under
the British rule as an artist during Second World War to get
practical experience. In 1945 joined as a cartoonist in ‘Information
films of India’ the production company for documentary films. In
1950 he became an art director for J.WalterThompson advertising
agency. This new carrier encouraged him to participate in many
exhibitions of art and advertising honoring him with many
awards. This was the period of post-independence in India
rebuilding new nation. Oil Industries, Aviation industry and
Consumer able Products industries were the few advertisers who
could not afford the art of advertising in full scale. Commercial Art
was just growing and the art director had to look after all
departments such as visualizer,
artist and art director.
Waghulkar was complete artist
who single handedly managed
many tasks with quality. He
created his own visual style that lasted for next decades to come.
He was master craftsman with creative mind at ease in areas like
sketch, illustration, design and conceptually solving the client’s
problem. Fifties and sixties saw the best of his creative work in
PHILIPS advertising campaigns, posters designed for AIR INDIA and
many in print media. We can see in his work strong, bold lines,
minimal details to depict fish or natural world. It has geometric

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form with touch of apt decoration. It is defined in contrasting enclosed dark forms and colours. Flat
colour application on two dimensional surfaces thereby creating an illusion of third dimension is
visible in his work. His handling of various media in print was brilliant. Scraper board technique, Dry
brush applications all suitable for news print surface. Lithography and Offset printing technologies
were explored by him to create piece of art. A direct method in visual communication to reach the
masses was the need of the time. This was explored by him due to his strong fine art qualities. That
period of applied art evolved mostly due to fine art’s strong influence. The art of Indian advertising
during 1930 to 1950 was dominated by agencies from Kolkata. This was shifted to ‘Bombay ‘now
Mumbai from 1950 onwards due to creative art directors like Waghulkar. “Commercial Artist Guild’s
1981 Hall of fame” the highest honor in communication arts in India was given to Waghulkar for his
lifelong pioneering work that elevates the standards of Art of Indian Advertising. s-Ranjan Joshi,
Deepak Ghare.
20. Gore Prabhakar
Born 1924. Died 6/3/1987. Illustrator and Book Designer. He was a self-taught artist who brought a
new approach to book cover design through his innovative expressive style. He was a student of
science but did not complete his graduation. He was cartoonist for Baburao Patel’s India’s most
popular magazine called ‘Mother India’. He is largely
known as an illustrator for cover designs mostly for
Popular Prakashan. He transformed the art of book
designing to a new content rich level. He brought
new trend in Marathi literature’s visual form. In
Marathi publication design printers and authors insist
on photographs for cover design which was changed
by Gore and he showed that visuals of painterly
quality are as much impressive to appeal the viewers.
He created a cover design for ‘Raigadala Jevha Jag
Yete’ a theater drama book, it was based on
historical
characters such as Shivaji Maharaj and his son Sambhaji. He
placed father Shivaji Maharaj as iconic larger image and besides
it son Sambhaji smaller emphasizing the space as a void
between the two and the gravity which bound them together
captured the essence of the play. His inside illustrations were
inviting readers to imagine many details the play could offer to
the viewers. He showed in his covers forceful strokes of colorful
crayons. It also contained the application of perspective and
symbolic colour play in one of the covers. He had the liking for
literature. He was interested searching interrelations between
the verbal and the visual. He did paint few canvases on the
same thoughts. -Deepak Ghare.
Ref: Bhatkal Ramdas, ‘Jigsaw, Rajhans Prakashan -Pune1997.

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21. Kawadi Prabhashankar
Born 28/9/1924. Died 1/11/1996. Illustrator. He is known for
his magazine and book illustrations, who completed the
diploma in commercial art from Sir J. J. Institute Applied Art- in
first class, Mumbai in 1947. He remained Lecturer in the same
institute after passing and fellowship, till 1952. He joined J.
Walter Thomson as an illustrator and worked for nearly eight
years. After joining Times of India he got his due recognition as
an illustrator. He created several illustrations for various other
publications in Marathi and English publications. His realistic
style with imaginative approach made his special place
amongst his contemporaries. He had inborn sensitivity for
literature in both Marathi and English. His perfect command
over the human figurative
drawing with anatomy created
his own distinct signature style.
He could be perhaps only few
who had illustrated stories and
other illustrations in Indian
Languages such as Punjabi, Tamil,
Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi and Hindi. He is the one who created a
treasure of all Indian languages cultural nuances, texture and colour
through his distinct illustrations. His ability to connect to those
different writers’ styles and interpret through his work was unique. He
explored scraper board technique, printing technologies fine
advantages to achieve quality in his work. He mostly resembled to the
India’s first [who pioneered modern applied art] fine artist M.V.
Dhurandhar visual style. He can be easily seen of work as parallel to the famous American Artist
Norman Rockwell. -Deepak Ghare, Ranjan Joshi.
22. Patki Balkrishna Gopal. [Bhai Patki]
orn 11/8/1925. Died 12/5/2010. Creative Art Director. He was born in Devrukh-Ratnagiri-
Maharashtra. He brought a new sensibility of Typographic design in to Indian Advertising during
1950s. Alumnus of Sir J. J. School of Art from the batch of 1944-1948 in Applied Art section. His

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contemporaries were V.S.Gaitonde, Mohan
Samant and Tyeb Mehta. That time Prof. V.
N. Adarkar was the head of Applied Art
section and British Charles Gerrard who was
the Director of the Art School. Famous
Illustrator Prabhashankar Shankar was the
teacher. Bhai Patki as was popularly known
had good artist surrounding. He learnt
different ‘isms’ of visual art during this time.
They had no big library resources so they had
to depend on various old magazines. He went
to London on Government of India
scholarship for advanced study to learn art of
Typography and Book Making Art at Central
School of Art and Crafts in 1955. He was lucky to get guidance from faculties like Saul Bass, Hebert
Spencer who was the editor of ‘Typographica’. He was editing also ‘Penrose’. Britain was still under
the influence of Stanly Morrison’s traditional Victorian Arts and Crafts ideas. Hebert Spencer
introduced the new asymmetrical typographic design of the Germany’s Bauhaus School. Patki learnt
under Saul Bass and Leo Lionni, about how to inspire the reader to think differently by reinventing
the relationship between the different elements of everdaylife. Bhai Patki is credited for the new
insight he brought to communication design in Indian print media, through lyrical composition,
innovative typography with a creative use of white space. His famous campaign Mukund Steel were
examples of the Swiss Grid and Bauhaus style of European graphic design adapted to Indian
advertising. He was equally proficient as an illustrator in the sketches one can see for Lakme
cosmetic campaign. For the first time he explored photogram technique for photo illustrations for
client like Calico textiles. This was an introduction of the new visual vocabulary in modern India
visual art during 1950s. He believed that while producing commodities we should not forget the
aesthetics and cultural context behind the products. He insisted that the designer must be in touch
with the present reality in order to keep increasing the sales of his client’s product. He found it
essential to have creativity, conventional wisdom and professional approach to enable the designer
to provide design solutions. Patki was born fine artist / painter. His paintings were displayed at the
Bombay art society exhibitions and Venice Biennale in 1955. His work have been acknowledged by
major international publications such as ‘Who’s who in Graphic design in 1962, ‘Typo: When, Who,
How: typography, in 1998/99. His was a dynamic
era, when Indian Advertising truly expanded its
horizon creating new visual message. S. V.
Waghulkar’s work was connected to fine arts, Arun
Kolatkar’s work had conceptual thinking enriched by
the cultural context, and Y.T.Choudhary’s work gave
packaging design and corporate identity in India a
new outlook, while Patki’s work displayed a new
creative sensivity towards layout and typography.

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He was one of the pioneers of Modern art of advertising and design. -Deepak Ghare, Ranjan Joshi.
23. Sanzgiri Ramesh V.
Born 1925. - ?... Creative Art Director. He is the alumnus of
Sir J. J. School of Art obtained his diploma in commercial art in
first class, awarded Fellowship 1952. He went to London to
join Central School of Art and enrolled for the National
Diploma in Design-U.K. He acquired special proficiency in
publicity design, typography and exhibition and display
design. In 1955 he joined J. Walter Thompson advertising
agency as an Art Director. From 1964 onwards till his
retirement he joined Times of India as an Art Director. During
his tenure he nurtured the legacy of former art director Prof.
Walter Langhammer. He built a team and with noted artists
and illustrators developed powerful visual identity for all the publications of Times of India and set
higher standards in Indian Publication. Print was the most influential media at that time. After the
introduction of computers in 1990s, the media profession underwent a drastic change. ‘The
Illustrated Weekly of India, Dharmayug, Filmfare, Femina and Science Today all major periodicals of
Times Group were redefined in their outlook. He was actively associated with Cag [Commercial Artist
Guild] and the cover of its 1967/68 annual was designed by him. He had depicted the transition of
visual art from the skill of the artists to computer technology and the process of creating a new
visual language.
–Deepak Ghare, Ranjan Joshi.
24. Phadnis Shivram Dattatreya.
Born 29/7/1925. Cartoonist. He is known for epoch-making
contribution to the world Marathi
cartoons. He was born in Bhoj in Belgaum
district. He not only started a style of cover
illustrations for the monthly magazine
‘Mohini’ that was novel for its time, but
also demonstrated how comic pictures on
front pages could made to look as enriching
and visually pleasing as other established
forms of visual art. Alumnus of Sir J. J.
School of Art from the batch of 1949. He
found that the climate and the lifestyle of Mumbai did not suit him. He moved to Kolhapur and then
to Pune permanently. In Pune he and Anant Antarkar’s publications together found scope to flourish
art and literature. It has created history being published for five decades since then even till today.
[2019]
Here he embarked on his illustratious career of cover page artist and illustrator and never looked
back. We can see on the heels of the ‘Huns’ cover came his front page illustration for the 1952 Diwali
annual issue of Mohini which became immensely popular. It showed a man wearing a shirt printed

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with images of mice and a lady in a sari printed with cats
standing at a bus stop. The cover became a revolutionary
landmark for a whole era of Diwali annual issues published. It’s a
visual culture of Maharashtra. He is known for satirical cartoons
based on contemporary social and political events for weeklies
and ‘Manus’ and ‘Sobat’ from 1963 to 1975. Besides this, and
more importantly, he drew cartoons for books on subjects which were considered serious, like
science, Law, Banking, Grammar, Management, Education, Philosophy etc. His pictures made it a lot
easier for the average reader to understanding these difficult subjects. A fine example of this is the
picture-filled primary text book on mathematics done for Maharashtra State. His pictures in this
primers made seemingly difficult subjects lucid and interesting. They also succeeded in exploding the
popular myth and unwarranted fear of mathematics as being tough subject. It is widely circulated
today in the remote parts of India in a span of twenty five years in twenty languages. His exhibitions
are crowd pullers in all language speaking people. The ‘Hasri [Laughing] Gallery’ titled exhibition in
1965 at Mumbai’s Jehangir Art gallery was received with huge crowed responses. He had also
innovatively added electrically animated cartoons on display. The ‘Hasri [Laughing] Gallery’ titled
exhibition encompassing his updated cartoons have travelled in USA and many more places with
same success.
[Smiling pictures] ‘Chitrahas’ along with his wife Shakuntala involving live demonstration and slide
show created history more than 150 all over Maharashtra received overwhelming response. It was
also showcased in New York-USA, London. His work have been displayed in International Cartoon
Exhibition in Montreal-Canada and Germany. 1954-Cag Award, Life Achievement Award from
Bangalore’s Indian Institute of Cartoonist. Books published till today are: Hasri Gallery, Mishkil
Gallery, Chimukli Gallery, Laughing Gallery in English, Chitrkala-How to draw for children. In his
memoirs ‘Reshatan: Athvanicha Pravas [A journey down memory lane]. He is still active today at
ninety plus and inspiring young gestations. –Vasant Sarwate.
25. Mario de Miranda. .
Born 2/5/1926. Died 11/12/2011. Cartoonist. He is the reputed cartoonist of India. His work that
captured the nuances of Goan and Mumbai’s culture, urban life in his inimitable style. He was born
in Daman. His father was the administrator of Daman ruled by Portuguese at time. His childhood
visual diaries shows the intense desired for drawing from the
beginning. His diaries contained restaurants, hotels, expressive
human faces depicting anger, curiosity, and smile boredom. He
even put expressions of dogs and cats. He practiced to compose
about forty to fifty distinctive human faces in a crowd which
became a hallmark of his cartoons. These diaries gave him a job at
the ‘Times of India’ publication which changed the course of
Indian Cartooning by his several thousand cartoons in nearly five
decades of work. He opted for degree in B.A. instead of going to
the art school in spite of getting an admission there. A self-taught

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artist. He created some outstanding characters namely Miss Fonceca,
Balraj Balaram, Rajani Nimbupani and Bundledas They Became Most
Popular in India.
He illustrated several books and visits to various places of the world are
visually demented with apt narrations. His landscapes in the form of
drawings are works of art reflecting the tonal values and rich texture of
engraving or print. He has created his unique visual style which is the
classic combinations of Portuguese and modern visual art. He received
highest honors such as Padma Shri-1988, Padma Bhushan-202 and
Padma Vibhushan [posthumously]-2012 from government of India,
Spain’s highest honour-la Orden de Isabel la Catolica-2009. His work
has been published in a big volume ‘Mario de Miranda’ book 1 and 2.
By Architecture Autonmous-2008. -Prashant Kulkarni, Deepak Ghare.
26. Palnitkar Vishvanath Mahadev.
Born 11/3/1927. Died 15/1/1999. Advertising Professional. He was
born in Kolhapur, but due to parent’s death at the early age he was
brought up by maternal grandparents in Nashik. The drawing teacher
in his school encouraged him to join Sir J. J. School of Art-Mumbai. He
had to be part time student because for living earning during the day
and learning in the morning hours was compulsory. In the art school
he became friend with a classmate called D. L. Garge. They dreamt of
starting their own adverting agency. They together founded [1950]
‘Pratibha Advertising Agency’. They mainly handled clients from
Nashik, Pune and Mumbai [Bombay]. He insisted upon market
research, manufacturing, business and services should be planned accordingly. He also felt that it
should address the consumer. They expanded nationally having branches at Pune, Mumbai, Delhi,
Bangalore [Bengaluru] and Baroda [Vadodara]. They had clients like Kirloskar Brothers and their
corporate extensions, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Sathe Biscuits, Swastik Rubber
Products, and Garware Nylons etc. In 1972 they suffered huge financial losses when Kirloskar Group
of Industries took over under their wings and it survived. Palnitkar was a gifted artist. He discovered
natural landscapes and painted them in minute details -Milind Phadke.
27. Gawankar Vasant Devrao.
Born 5/4/1927-Died 3/4/1996. Cartoonist. He was born in Vasai. He had no formal training in
drawing or painting, yet because of his humorous
nature inspired to draw cartoons. He was
otherwise a serious person but gifted with sharp
intellect for humour. Fifty years of cartoon
creation was based on his potential to capture
contradictory elements from surroundings with
his rare penetrating insight. Gawankar’s first
cartoon was published in ‘SHANKAR’S WEEKLY’ in

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1951. He worked for more thirty different publications and did more than 5000 cartoons in his life.
He was fond of some characters such as employees at the police department, family matters,
corruption in the cement industry, terrorism, ancestry, air plane hijacks, extremely rich ministers,
political leaders and businessmen’s enormous expenditure on wedding ceremony celebrations etc.
He was also keenly interested in photography, sports, such as tennis and badminton. He was part
musical band where he would play mandolin for years. His cartoons are published in a form of book
by India book house. -Vasant Sarwate.
28. Sarwate Vasant Shankar.
Born 3/2/1927. Died 24/12/2016. Cartoonist. He was born in
Kolhapur. He loved drawing from the child-hood only. Despite a
rich tradition of art in Kolhapur there was hardly any scope for
art profession in early 1930s, so he opted for a course in
engineering and completed degree in Civil Engineering [B. E.
Civil] from the Engineering College-Pune. He joined ACC Ltd., as
a design engineer served till the retirement in 1987. Artist
Dinanath Dalal was his inspiration along with some western
cartoonist. With his soft humour he laid bare socio-cultural
inconsistencies and myths. His cartoons were on varied subjects
ranging from the criminalization of politics, bureaucracy,
elections, protests and demonstrations. He documented the
changing lifestyle and mindset of the typical Marathi middle
class family over the last fifty years with wit and humour. His
cartoons on new trends in literature, music and theatre expos
the hypocrisy of the performers and viewers in a subtle manner
with a deep understanding of the performing arts. He
popularized the form of cartoon series based on a single theme in Marathi, effectively made it a
custom for others to follow. One of its series is ‘Majha Sangeet Vyasanga, Khurchya and Gamati-
Gamati’ mostly published in Diwali’s annual issues. By and large, political cartoonist in Marathi used
thick and thin brush strokes, borrowed from great cartoonist David Low and R. K. Laxman, while S.D.
Phadnis had a style which was aesthetically appealing and beautiful. Sarwate’s lines on the other
hand were of even thickness as if drawn with quill nib and pen. His cartoons assumed a texture at
times with details or at times through hatched lines. The use of perspective too was another
characteristic of his cartoons. He introduced
caricatures in Marathi.They were in its real sense
revealing the hidden character of the writer and
his writing. He insists on collectively comprised the
person’ unique identity, behavior, mannerisms
and social image. He coined a new word
‘Arkachitra’ meaning the essence of that person
captured in caricature. He believed cartoon teaches how to live life sportively without any bloated
egos, to know your place in this world and to accept defeat gracefully, with a smile on your face. It
was his playful outlook that guided us through the vicissitudes of life, making problems

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comprehensible and relatively easy to overcome. He defined
cartoon or ‘vyanga’ or things in a distorted or exaggerated
manner. His ‘vyangartha’ had origin in Sanskrit poetics,
meaning the difference between the ‘literal’ and the
‘metaphorical’. He argued that the cartoon had the ability to
convey something different from the real in the literal sense
which was metaphorical. To understand Sarwate’s cartoons, it
was necessary for the readers to have an awareness of the
literary and cultural happenings around them. The inclusion of
words in his cartoons added a cultural flavor. He innovatively
brought to life lines, shapes, fingerprints and alphabets
through his cartoons to convey the humour in human life.
He made his own mark as an illustrator and a book designer.
He created several illustrations for famous literary figures in
Marathi language. He possessed a certain kind of
understanding about literature and had the imagination
required to transform it in a visual form. He also illustrated
children’s books which has evoked the feel of the narrative, be
it a story or a novel, through the style or the treatment of the
illustrations. We can
see his different styles visible for two culturally different
books. He created an imaginary character which become an
iconic it is ‘Thanthanpal’ derived from his longtime friend and
famous literary Jaywant Dalwi’s commenting on the hilarious
side of happenings in the field of Marathi literature. He has a
record of continuously designing fifty years the covers of
‘LALAIT’ Diwali specials and branding it as milestone in
publishing. These cover designs are conceptually and
aesthetically excellent examples to note. He was always
curious about the work of his contemporaries and world
famous cartoonist. He always encouraging to appreciate and
critic [a person who judges the merits of literary or artistic works,
especially one who does so professionally.] like good educationist the
art of cartoons for common man. He wrote several articles
and books. ‘Khel Reshavatri’ an exhibition of his work
received tremendous response in Maharashtra, Panaji [Goa]
and Bengaluru. He was honored with lifetime achievement
awards by Indian Institute of Cartoonist, Bengaluru 2009 and
Cartoonist’ Combine in 2016. Two special issues of ‘LALAIT’ were published in his honour and his
contributions first in 1977 and last in 2017 after his death. His last important work was the valuable
editorship of cartoons section for the ‘Drishyakala Kosh’, in Marathi edition of the Encyclopedia of
Visual Art in Maharashtra published in 2013. –Deepak Ghare.

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29. Thackeray Bal Keshav.
Born 23/1/1927. Died 17/11/2012. Cartoonist. Known as cartoonist and the editor of his famous
cartoons weekly called ‘Marmik’. His childhood was influenced by his famous reformer father
Prabodhankar Thackeray who was also an artist. He saw his son Bal observing Banbury’s cartoons
published in Times of India. He encouraged him to first draw in same style. This is how Bal Thackeray
got his first lesson from his father. He learnt from the famous artist Dinanath Dalal proper art of
drawing cartoons. His first cartoon was published by ‘Navshakti’ newspaper in 1945. He joined Free
Press Journal as a cartoonist in 1947. His political sense was developed at home by hearing the
constant political discussions held between the top figures and his father on politics. He looked at
the world famous cartoonist during Second World War David Low as his guru. The moment of
‘Samyukta Maharashtra’ about the formation of State of Maharashtra his cartoons were fiery and
effective. The ‘Marmik’ was started in August 1960 along with his brother Shrikant who was also
cartoonist and musician. The had popular feature the Sunday Special called ‘Ravivarchi Jatra’
centerspread displaying cartoons taking note of political and social important events in full visuals
with apt captions. Through this in course of time it took a big turn eventually forming a political
moment known today as ‘Shiv Sena’. This changed the life of Bal Thackeray who became its chief and
Maharashtra’s and also to some extent India’s political equations changed due to its rise as effective
ruling force. Thackeray did cartoons for ‘Marmik’ for twenty
five years before getting into active politics. He rendered his
cartoons in large and powerful brush strokes. They were
candid full of incisive political comments with sense of
humour. His captions for these cartoons were as effective as
his drawings. His art of caricatures was yet another strong as
his cartoons. His compositions, expressive body language,
and humour were the hallmark of his
work. He used metaphor from every-
day life: fruits, vegetables, domesticated
wild animals, firecrackers or even
colorful Indian festivals to portray the
politician’s behavior. He had a common
man: the mustachioed seen in the
corners of the total cartoon
composition. His total command over
Marathi language was the asset of his
work. He is showcased in the pictorial
history of cartoons on Winston
Churchill. His cartoons have been also

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published in New York Times and Japanese ‘Asahi’. He is remembered a successful cartoonist went
on to become a successful political Leader. –Prashant Kulkarni.
30. Thokal Prabhakar.
Born 2/12/1927. Died 1999. Cartoonist. Thokal spent the first thirteen years of his life at maternal
uncle’s home in Pusad though he was born in Akot in Akola District-Maharashtra State. He
developed his love for drawing at his school in Pusad. He received his talent for humour from his
maternal uncle. He then moved on to the New English School in Akot where gained training in Art
from N.V. Kalikar. The bound volumes of ‘Kirloskar’ and ‘Stree’ magazine at his uncle’s place and
public library of Akot satiated his express needs as a reader. He read all famous Marathi writers but
the cartoons in the book ‘Takachya Feki’ by Maharashtra’s earliest cartoonist and Editor
S. V. Kirloskar and cartoons by yet another pioneer cartoonist Harishchandra Lachke who motivated
him to draw cartoons. He continued to serve in revenue department of the government for the living
and simultaneously did carton drawings. He gained recognition through the Marathi magazines of
the 1940s. He contributed to magazines like, Kirloskar, Manohar, Huns, Mohini, Vasant,
Vagmayshobha and Awaz. The readers these magazines were people living in the urban and sub-
urban environment whose lives the subjects of the
cartoon published. His simplistic but expressive style
of cartooning with a comic twist given to the ordinary
instances in daily life appealed to the common
reader. His cartoons generally related to literature,
egotistic writers, and dreamy poets or based on the
reactions of common people to art and music. He
showed the paradox between the romantic worlds of
poets and the harsh realities of life through his
cartoons. This affinity towards literature made his
cartons were accompanied by captions which made
the cartoons witty and humorous. ‘Thokal Chitre’ was
published by Kistrim Book Club in 1971. He was the president of the Cartoonists’ Combine from 1997
to 1999. –Vasant Sarwate.
31. Pereira Brendan Conan.
Born 23/11/1928. Creative Art Director. Pereira Brendan who made a mark in the field of Indian
Advertising during 1960s/1970s was born in Mumbai. Alumnus of Sir J. J. School of Art from the
batch of 1945-1948 in Applied Art section. His earlier work with L. A. Stronachs and D. J. Keymer was
bigger exposer since both agencies were top in 1930s to 1950s. He went to London in 1956 and had
bigger experience with agencies like Raiper Design, Baron Moss and C. Vermance. He could study
various aspects such as the art of advertising includes: design, copy writing, production and media
besides Law, Economy, Psychology and Management. He started working as Art Director in Aiyers
advertising agency in 1961. Aiyers had collaboration with LPE-the London Press Exchange, London
and he was elected to the Board of Directors. ‘Changing Faces’ an auto- biographical book by Pereira
Brendan documents few details about the importance of communication through illustration an

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insight given then British Director of Sir J. J. School of Art. He was
influenced by famous Art Director P. N. Sarma who used to say;
“Think, and only then arrive at a logical and rational design.”
The appointment of psychoanalyst Dr. Chakrapani at Aiyers was an
important decision by him. This helped creating consumer oriented
strategic planning that considered the psychological mindset of the
consumer as well as that of the society, in advertising design. In
1972 he established Chaitra Advertising Agency. He quit Chaitra
Advertising Agency in 1983 and worked as a creative consultant with
Clarion Advertising Agency. Photography gained importance during
his tenure and talented photographers like Vilas Bhende, Mitter
Bedi created finest art of advertising photography. He
became the president of Cag-Communication Arts Guild formerly
Commercial Arts Guild form 1977 to 1993 nearly 16 years. He is still
at 90th
year actively involved as its managing committee member. -
Deepak Ghare, Ranjan Joshi.
32. Chaudhary Yeshwant T. (Y.T)
Born 26/4/1930. Died 19/9/2000. Graphic Designer and Art Educationist. He was a visionary who
nurtured a holistic approach to communication design in India. He was graphic and industrial
designer and one of the best creative minds in India to plan corporate communications in their
totality including corporate identity design system, planning, and product design and packaging
development. He introduced new approach in the basic concepts of visual art education. He was
appointed as a senior graphic designer in the multinational pharmaceutical company CIB, Basel,
Switzerland and later to India to work for the same company. After serving for the ten years he
formed his own Communica Corporate and Prakriti-Synnc Vision. He was known as YT in the world of
advertising and Industrial Design. His expertise lay in Print
Design. He believed firmly that conceptual thinking was
more important than the execution itself. Graphic artist
should have a deep understanding of both eastern and
western cultures. He believed western concepts were not
new; they had always existed in eastern philosophy. Visual
history of our culture believed, eyes, ears, hands and leg
were functional elements of man and technological
innovations was an extensions of own self: like a wheel or a
propeller is an extensions of the legs and so on. He used
modern technology for a brochure, integrated with symbols
from Tantric Art or Adam from painting, Creation by
Michelangelo, to portray the image of modern man as a
creator. According to him the job of graphic artist was to put
imagery and concert reality together to meet the demands
of design. Technology of print media defined new visual
language. He believed there were three elements in the