About Ganesh Pyne

Born in 1937 in Kolkata, Ganesh Pyne studied painting at the Government College of Arts and Craft in 1959. In those early years, Pyne was greatly influenced by the brothers Abanindranath and Gaganendranath Tagore. He worked in various media before settling on a self-innovated form of tempera. His works are mainly in small format and are best appreciated at close quarters.

Ganesh Pyne is obsessed with death. He can't forget his first brush with death, in the summer of 1946, when communal riots had rocked Kolkata. His family was forced out of their crumbling mansion. As he roamed around the city, he stumbled upon a pile of dead bodies. On the top was the body of a stark naked old woman, with wounds on her breast. No wonder then his paintings rarely has light backgrounds, and blue and black happens to be his favourite colours. Death also finds its way back into his canvas through different motifs. Working mostly in tempera, his paintings are rich in imagery and symbolism.

Pyne has participated in numerous exhibitions, including the Indian Triennale New Delhi (1968 and 1971), the Paris Biennale (1970) and many others both in Europe and Asia. He is the recipient of the Calcutta Art Society Award (1956), the Birla Academy of Art and Culture Award (1973) and the Shiromani Puraskar (1985). His works can be seen in the collections of the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, and in various private collections in India and abroad, including that of Sir Yehudi Menuhin. He lives and works in Kolkata.