Altaf Mohammedi

Altaf Mohamedi (1942-2005) was born in Baroda. His interest in painting took shape while he was at the Scindia School in Gwalior, under the tutelage of art instructor Niyogi. He was also encouraged by his artist sister, Nasreen Mohamedi. Despite his privileged upbringing, he was profoundly inspired by Marxist ideologies. Instead of involving himself in the family business, he was more inclined towards art and went to study at Central Saint Martins in London. 

Between 1961 and 1966, Mohamedi studied art at different universities in Britain, which influenced the politics of his early career as an artist. He returned to Bombay in 1967, where he joined the leftist group, Proyom (Progressive Youth Movement). In those years, Mohamedi took his work to the Matunga Labour Camp and Bombay slums, where he printed counter-revolutionary posters. His belief was that the social and interactive nature of art would challenge the status quo. 

A deeply introspective strand runs through Mohamedi’s art, driven by personal experiences of loss, self-discovery, and suffering. His works are intensely political and explore both the anxieties of the individual as well as the collective. His portrait series depicts the introvert and extrovert, sexuality, alienation, and death. He was deeply influenced by Francis Bacon and Albert Camus. 

His signature colour palette was dark and contrasting shades. From the 1960s to the late 1990s, Mohamedi worked with oil and watercolour, and covered contemporary Indian history, including the Emergency, the Bhopal gas tragedy, and the Gujarat riots of 1992. His philosophical questions about death and the human condition led to the ‘Hospital’ series in the mid 1980s. Throughout his practice, he never left the canvas.