Satish Gujral

Satish Gujral (1925-2020) is an internationally acclaimed painter, sculptor, muralist and architect.

Born in Jhelum, Punjab, he suffered a swimming accident at age 8 that left him with a hearing impairment. His father introduced him to Urdu literature and poetry at a young age. In 1939, he joined the Mayo School of Art in Lahore. He studied at Sir J. J. School of Art on a Burma Shell scholarship from 1944-47. Here, he met several artists from the Progressive Artists Group. 

During Partition, his family relocated to Shimla and his early works reflect the emotional impact of those years.

In the early 50s, he was awarded a scholarship to study mural and painting at Palacio Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico under the guidance of muralist Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros. On his return to India, he created his first major mural for Gandhi Bhawan, Chandigarh in 1958. He also created murals for Delhi High Court, Baroda House and Shastri Bhawan.

The late 1970s marked a shift in his practice from paintings and collages to murals and architecture. This brought about an expanse of material and content to his works. He created large-scale murals, mostly in mosaic and ceramic tiles. In due course, the tiles were replaced by machine-made steel elements. His sculptures took on human-like forms made out of burnt wood.

Gujral obtained a licence to practise architecture in the 1980s. His first major commission was designing the Embassy of Belgium, New Delhi in 1983. He went on to design many prominent buildings in India and abroad, among these are the India Islamic Cultural Centre, New Delhi; Indira Gandhi Centre for Indian Culture, Mauritius; Al-Moughtara Farm, Riyadh; Goa University, Goa; and Embassy of India, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Gujral held several international exhibitions of his sculptures, paintings and graphics at Cairo, Rome, Paris, London, New York, Helsinki, Stockholm, Madrid and Latin America, to name a few. He has been awarded the Order of the Crown by the Belgian Government, Da Vinci Award for lifetime achievement in Mexico, honours from the Lalit Kala Akademi, Visva-Bharati’s Desikottama and a Padma Vibhushan from the Government of India (1999). In 2014, he was honoured with the NDTV Indian of the Year award.

Gujral passed away in New Delhi in 2020.