Satish Gujral was a renowned Indian artist born in 1925 in British India who worked in various mediums including painting, sculpture, architecture and more. Over his long career he received many honors like the Padma Vibhushan for his contributions to Indian art. He is known for his versatile style and tackling subjects like the impact of Indian partition in his early works. Gujral later branched out into architecture, designing notable buildings like the Belgium Embassy in Delhi. He continued experimenting with different materials and styles throughout his life, making Satish Gujral one of India's most prolific multi-faceted artists.

1. SATISH GUJRAL
Date of Birth: December 25, 1925
Place of Birth: Jhelum, Punjab, British India
Professions: Painter, muralist, sculptor, architect, graphic designer, writer
Spouse: Kiran
Child: Mohit Gujral
Father: Avtar Narain Gujral
Mother: Pushpa Gujral
Sibling: Inder Kumar Gujral (former Prime Minister of India)
Awards: Padma Vibhushan (1999), NDTV Indian of the Year (2014).
o Satish Gujral was born in the year 1925 in the pre-partition Punjab, British India. He grew up along with his
elder brother Inder Kumar Gujral, who would later go on to become the Prime Minister of India.
o At the tender age of 10, he suffered an illness which fatally impaired his hearing. He developed an interest
towards painting and started portraying his own thoughts when he was only 14.
o The impact of partition on him was so strong that it would later form the basis of his art in the initial stages of
his career.
o Over the last six decades, Indian art and architecture has been greatly benefited, thanks to the fickle-minded
nature of Satish Gujral.
o Because of his ability to get bored of things easily, he kept changing his profession, but perfected each one of
them.
o At the end of it all, the man turned into one of the most brilliant multi-faceted personalities India has ever
seen
o Over the years, he has constantly changed his medium and materials in order to differentiate his art from that
of his previous creation.
o Known for creating some of the most exquisite paintings, murals and sculptures, Satish Gujral is one of the
greatest as well as the most versatile artists of India.
o He ventured into architecture,people criticized him for doing so since he was already successful as an artist,
India got one of the finest buildings of the 20th century – the Belgium Embassy, situated in New Delhi.

2. EDUCATION:-
o Satish joined the Mayo School of Arts in Lahore in the year 1939 in order to study applied arts.
o After graduating from the Mayo School of Arts, he moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1944 and took admission
at the Sir JJ School of Art.
o During his stay at the college, which lasted from 1944 to 1947, he came into contact with the famous
Progressive Artists’ Group of Bombay.
o he found it difficult to agree with their techniques and started looking for modernism in art, with its roots
belonging to the Indian tradition.
o In 1947, a recurring sickness forced Satish to drop out of JJ School of Art and eventually completed his
education in the year 1949.
o He left for Mexico in the year 1952 after he was granted a scholarship from the Mexican embassy. He served
his apprenticeship under well-known artists Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros.
CAREER:-
o In the initial stages of his career, his work was heavily influenced by the suffering of people who lost their
homes and families because of the partition of the country. Since he had witnessed the cruel act
o Later on, he realized that people would not appreciate the same kind of art over and over again and hence
started to change his style of work.
o Satish started diversifying his sculptural materials with machined industrialized objects made up of steel,
copper, glass, etc., and even gave life to sculptures by using junk materials.
o The period of 1952 to 1974 saw Satish Gujral organizing solo shows all over the world.
o The shows featured his sculptures, paintings and graphics. The cities in which he organized his shows include
Mexico City, New York, New Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Montreal, Rome, Berlin, Tokyo, Buenos Aires and
Stockholm.
o the late 1980s, paintings and sculptures of Satish Gujral have shown a greater expansion, both in terms of
materials as well as content.
o He started making large murals, mostly in mosaic and ceramic tiles. Later, machined steel elements overtook
the tiles.
o Satish Gujral's sculptures, made out of burnt wood, come across as visceral exposure of human and other
forms.

3. STYLE:-
o No matter what the subject matter is, Satish Gujral creates his works after understanding their nuances and
the history behind them. This gives his works depth and sets them apart from the works of his
contemporaries.
o Like many great artists, Satish too, is a master of creating modern art without disturbing its tradition, for
there lingers the real beauty of any art.
EXHIBITION AT THE INDIA ART FAIR:-
o In 2014, Satish Gujral decided to display some of his creations at the India Art Fair.
o The artworks displayed were from his personal collection, created between the 1950s up until 2013.
o A total of 26 paintings and sculptures were put up for sale, out of which five belonged to the famous partition-
inspired works.
SATISH GUJRAL’S STINT AS AN ARCHITECT:-
o In one of his interviews he has mentioned about him being bored with
art as he felt that he had done everything that he could do with art.
o In 1968, he ventured into architecture, and soon, he proved his critics
wrong when the Belgium diplomats approached him, requesting him to
come up with an edifice that would serve as their embassy in India.
o In 1984, he completed his project and took his critics by surprise, for the
building looked astonishing. So much so, that it was later termed as one
of the finest buildings of the 20th century in a forum held by
international architects.
o He then went on to build magnificent edifices like the summer palace of
Saudi Arabia in Riyadh, CMC research center in Hyderabad and the Goa
University.
o The summer palace of Saudi Arabia was asked to build by the prince of
Saudi Arabia after he was highly impressed with the Belgium embassy.
o Though he had a rollicking start to his architectural career, Satish
shifted his focus back to painting as he got bored of architecture.
BELGIUM EMBASSY, NEW DELHI

4. AWARDS AND RECOGNITION:-
Satish Gujral has received the following awards in recognition of his vital contribution to the field of art:-
o NATIONAL AWARD FOR PAINTING - The National Award in the field of painting is considered as one of the most
prestigious awards. He has bagged this award twice in his illustrious career so far.
o NATIONAL AWARD FOR SCULPTURE - He managed to bag the National Award for sculpting as well.
o STATE HONOR - He was honored by the State Government of Punjab for his impeccable contribution towards
art and architecture.
o ORDER OF THE CROWN – The government of Belgium honored him with this prestigious award for his
contribution towards architecture.
o PADMA VIBHUSHAN – In the year 1999, the government of India honored him with the country’s second highest
civilian award.
o LEONARDO DA VINCI AWARD – This prestigious award was presented to him by the World Cultural Council for
his impressive contribution towards offering positive messages to the world through various expressions of art.
o INTERNATIONAL AWARD FOR LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT – The government of Mexico honored him with this
award.
o NDTV INDIAN OF THE YEAR – In 2014, he was selected as the Indian of the Year by NDTV, a national media.
o Several documentaries have been made on his life. He was part of the tele film ‘Partition: The Day India
Burned’, released by BBC. Based on his autobiography ‘A Brush with Life’, a wonderful documentary was made
and released on 15 February 2012. Apart from all these, his legacy will live on forever through his wonderful
creations.
SOME OF SATISH GUJRAL’S PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURES:-
PAINTINGS SCULPTURES
HIS DEATH:- Satish Gujral died on 26th, March, 2020 in Delhi.