Amar Nath Sehgal | |
|---|---|
 Sehgal and his work "Friends" on a 2023 stamp of India | |
| Born | (1922-02-05)5 February 1922 |
| Died | 28 December 2007(2007-12-28) (aged 85) |
| Occupation(s) | sculptor, painter, art educator, poet |
Amar Nath Sehgal (5 February 1922 – 28 December 2007) was anIndianmodernist sculptor, painter, poet and art educator. He started his career as an engineer inLahore, and later turned to art. He shifted to Delhi afterpartition of India in 1947, and in 1950 studiedart education fromNew York University School of Education. Subsequently, became an art educator, teaching atCollege of Art, Delhi, and at theModern School Barakhamba, New Delhi. However, he also ventured into painting, drawings, and poetry.
In 1979, Amar Nath Sehgal set up his studio in theGrand Duchy ofLuxembourg and lived between Luxembourg and India until his return to New Delhi in 2004. His long romance with Luxembourg goes back to 1966 when he had his first solo exhibition at the Musée National d'Histoire et d'Arts in Luxembourg-City. His iconic bronze bust sculpture ofMahatma Gandhi in the Municipal Park in Luxembourg celebrates the strong connection he had with Luxembourg. The bronze bust, a gift by the philanthropistHenry J. Leir was inaugurated on 21 June 1973 in the presence of the Minister of Foreign AffairesGaston Thorn and the Ambassador of India to LuxembourgK. B. Lall. In February 1980, the original bust was stolen and in 1982 Amar Nath Sehgal gifted a copy of the original which was inaugurated on 2 October 1982, on the 113th Anniversary of the Birth ofMahatma Gandhi.
Later in life, he also became a pioneer ofintellectual property rights, especiallymoral rights in copyright for artists in India, after he fought a13-year-long legal case withGovernment of India. A bronze mural which he created for theVigyan Bhavan, Delhi in the 1960s, was removed without his consent, during renovations in 1979. He filed the case atDelhi High Court in 1992, and the courts finally awarded him damages in 2005.
In 1986, he founded "The Creative Fund" inLuxembourg to help young artists from Luxembourg and India discover and be inspired by the rich history, the culture and the heritage of both countries.
1993, he was awarded theLalit Kala Akademi Fellowship by theLalit Kala Akademi, India's National Academy of Art, the highest honour in the fine arts conferred by theGovernment of India. In 2008, he was posthumously awarded thePadma Bhushan, byGovernment of India.[1]
Born on 5 February 1922, Sehgal was originally fromCampbellpur (Attock), in NorthPunjab (now in Pakistan). He shifted toLahore in 1939 to study atGovernment College, Lahore where he graduated in 1941.[2] Thereafter he studiedindustrial chemistry atBanaras Hindu University till 1942. Subsequently, he started worked as an engineer in Lahore, while studying arts privately.[3][4]
During the riots that preceded thepartition of India in 1947, he left Lahore in May 1947 and travelled to EasternPunjab and Kangra-Kullu Valley, with his family, where he witnessed macabre killings of local Muslim minority. This was to have a lasting impact both of his psyche and his art. Finally, he settled in Delhi, where he reestablished himself.[2] In 1949, he crossed the Atlantic on afreightHarpalycus, for 47 days to New York.[5] He met his god mother Miss Elmina Lucke, who convinced him to study in New York city and live in the East Village. He did both and later obtained a master's degree inart education fromNew York University School of Education (now renamedSteinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development) in 1950. During this period he was exposed to world art and inspirations ofHenri Matisse. He studied with other struggling artists at the time,Jackson Pollock andTony Smith amongst others .[3][4]
His first exhibition was inaugurated in New York in 1951, byIndia's permanent representative to the United Nations.[5] Upon his return from US, Sehgal taught at theModern School, New Delhi for a short while, and his wife Shukla Dhawan was also a teacher at its Junior School.[6] Later he remained a faculty atCollege of Art, Delhi,University of Delhi and established his studio in Delhi. In time, he became a leading exponents of modernism in Indian sculptor. Themes of much of his oeuvre revolved around the importance of individual freedom and human dignity, and his response the horrors of political violence.[7][8][9]
His works were exhibited in many places across the world, winning him international acclaim.[7] Many of his sculptures in bronze and ceramic are in the collection ofNational Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.[10]
" I am convinced that an artiste has a moral right to his work, even if it has been paid for by an individual or an organization."
In 1957, he was commissioned to create a mural for theVigyan Bhavan, India's first state convention center. The bronze mural spanned 140 feet by 40 feet, depicting rural and modern India, and was completed five years later and installed in thefoyer of the building in 1962.[12] Subsequently, in 1979, during renovations, the mural was removed without his consent, and shifted to the storehouse. When in the following years despite his request no action was taken, He filed a case at theDelhi High Court seeking damages. ThusAmar Nath Sehgal v. Union of India. After a 13-year-long legal proceeding, the case was finally decided in his favour on 21 February 2005.[12] Thus it became a landmark case in Indian legal history, as for the first time uphold themoral right of an author under theIndian Copyright Act and awarded damages. The government was also asked to return his mural[13][14][15]
Besides art, Sehgal was also a poet, he published two collection of his poems,Lonesome Journey (1996) andAwaiting a New Dawn (1998).[4]
A bronze sculpture titled,The Captive, first designed by Sehgal for the UN conference on sanctions against South Africa, held in Paris in 1986 was later installed inRobben Island,Cape Town,Nelson Mandela's former island prison, onNational Women's Day, 9 August 2011.[16][17] In the following year, a large stone sculpture by him, "Aiming For Excellence" was installed at the DDAYamuna Sports Complex in New Delhi.[18] In October 2004, an exhibition of his paintings onRamayana andMahabharata, as "tribute to Rishi Valmiki and Rishi Vyasa" was inaugurated by then President A P J Abdul Kalam at theIndira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts .[19]
TheLalit Kala Akademi, India's National Academy of Art, in 1993, awarded him theLalit Kala Akademi Fellowship, the highest honour in the fine arts conferred by theGovernment of India.[20] He had a close to the first Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru and subsequently theNehru–Gandhi family.[7]
He died on 28 December 2007 in New Delhi, at age 85, after a prolonged illness.[7] In the following year, he was posthumously awarded thePadma Bhushan, byGovernment of India.[21]
Interviews: Amarnath Sehgal: Delhi, 20 October 1999
