Urmil Jain

Urmil Jain was born in Lahore in 1938. She studied at Delhi Polytechnic under the guidance of renowned painters like B C Sanyal, Sailoz Mukherjee and Biren De and received a Diploma in Fine Arts in 1959. 

From 1962-65, she was a member of ‘The Unknown’, a group of young painters & sculptors that was co-founded by Rajendra Dhawan, Eric Bowen, Paramjit Singh, Arpita Dutta, R. K. Bhatnagar, S. S. Vohra, Ved Nayar, Nand Katyal and others. They held annual group shows from 1959-1961 in New Delhi. Further, she received a Textile Designing Diploma from Rachna Sansad, Mumbai in 1984. 

Jain’s paintings are highly narrative, inspired by nature and overlooked everyday beauty.  She had a special way of composing landscapes with intense colour and sharp, sweeping brush strokes that create austere characters. With a strong balance of light and shade in her paintings, she creates an air of romance and mystery in her work.

Jain is a poet as well. Her short poems and stories in Hindi and English have been published in various magazines and recited on Vividh Bharati and All India Radio. In 2004, she published a collection of Hindi poetry titled ‘Jaade ki Ek Dhoop’. Jain also taught as a postgraduate art teacher in Delhi and Mumbai for 25 years.

Her work ‘Blue Vase’ was selected and printed as greeting cards by Concern India charitable organisation. She is a life member of Bombay Art Society, Art Society of India, Artists Centre, Jehangir Art Gallery. Additionally, her works are part of significant private collections in India, USA, UK, Europe, Kuwait, Singapore & London. She has several solo and group shows to her credit, including Delhi Shilpi Chakra, New Delhi (1961);  Lalit Kala Academy, Ahmedabad (1994); Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai (1995,1998, 2006, 2015); Agora Art Gallery, New York (2009); amongst others.

Jain lives and works in Mumbai.