About K.H. Ara

Born in 1913 in Andhra Pradesh, Ara was one of the founder member of the Progressive Artists’ Group in Mumbai. An entirely self-taught artist, Ara's work was rooted in the joy of creativity, focusing on nudes, still life and human figure studies. He is one of the first Indian modernist to work consistently with the female nude, experimenting with its aesthetic possibilities. Through the use of just lines he built the form with all its sensuous qualities. Ara's still life studies show the influence of Cezanne and Matisse.

Ara initially portrayed the scenes from his surroundings and portraits reminiscent of Bombay`s colonial painters, following which elements of the Bengal School began to show in his work. His favoured media initially were watercolours and gouaches, which would at times resemble oils in the impasto effect. His works has also been shown in galleries in Japan, Russia, Germany, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria. In 1944, he received the prestigious Governor’s Award for Painting, and went on to win the Bombay Art Society’s Gold Medal in 1952 for his canvas ‘Two Jugs’. Some of Ara’s significant works are part of the Cowsaji Jehangir Family and the Rudi von Leyden Family collections. Ara passed away in 1985.