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“Art manifests all the dreams, experiences and aspirations of one’s life.” Arpana Caur’s life and works manifest a realization of her statement. Her art speaks. It is the voice from the depths of a woman’s soul. The Indian woman. Her art maintains a silence that you can interpret your way. It is mastery over the medium, the colors and form to create a striking visual that goes straight to the soul. Not surprisingly, her art adorns public places and museums worldwide, as far apart as Hiroshima and Hamburg. Her art speaks a universal language that transcends cultural barriers. Born in 1954 in a Sikh family, Arpana Caur graduated with a Masters in Literature but painting was her childhood love. Encouraged by her mother, Ajeet Kaur, a writer, and inspired by Amrita Shergill, Arpana created her first painting “Mother and Daughter” when she was only nine. A self-taught painter, the art in Arpana blossomed and in 1974, her paintings, exhibited at the German Embassy, were appreciated and boosted her confidence. In 1975 she was encouraged by a family friend, Bhavesh Sanyal, to do a solo exhibition and since then she has not looked back. Her paintings show influences of her mother’s works, local folklore, Indian folk art, her personal experiences influenced especially by news pertaining to incidents involving women. Since she grew up in an environment where spirituality was a way of life, it was but natural that her paintings should depict spiritual, social, cultural and environmental themes. However, her focus was essentially on women viewed from different perspectives, ranging from graphical depiction to the abstract with emotive, saturated colors. Her fame grew with exhibitions in Delhi, Calcutta, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, London, Glasgow, Amsterdam, Singapore, Munich, New York, Stockholm, Berlin and other cities. Arpana Caur’s paintings can be seen in Museums of Modern Art in Delhi, Mumbai and Chandigarh, in museums of Dusseldorf, Hiroshima, Boston, San Francisco and London. She went beyond paintings to creating illustrations, pencil drawings, print making and giant murals. Her commissioned murals are on display in Delhi, Kathmandu, Hamburg and Hiroshima among other places. Arpana Caur had fully arrived and gained due recognition as well as accolades. Among other awards, she won the 1987 VI Triennele Gold Medal for Painting. She also has the All India fine Arts Society Award to her credit and has collaborated with government and artists. Her creations grace art galleries and museums across the world and fetch premium prices at global art auctions. Arpana Caur also shows her other, human, side in that she finances various causes entirely from the proceeds of her paintings. She supports free vocational training in the Academy of Fine Arts and Literature along with her mother who is the founder member. A leprosy home in Ghaziabad, ration projects for poor and old widows and a free school for slum women receive her full, unstinted suppoort. Independent in thought and action since her childhood, she devotes a major portion of her income to such causes without asking for aid from anyone else. Women of India and concern for environment are in focus and part of her funds go to fund two saints in Sultanpur Lodhi and Khadoor Sahib engaged in environment preservation activities. Her concern shows in that she personally goes on tree planting sprees and is actively engaged in restoration of environments in rural and urban areas. She contributes to the protection of heritage monuments in the country. Her life reflects her art: many hued, many splendoured. “I think an artist is always sensitive towards his or her society.” Arpana Caur has demonstrated and proved that art and artists do not exist in a world of their own but can and do use the medium as a way to care for people. Interested people can search painter jobs in this Related Articles -
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