The Storytelling Artistry of K G Subramanyan

K G Subramanyan was born on 15 February 1924 in Kerala and was an important post-Independence Indian artist. In 1944, he graduated from Presidency College in Chennai with a Bachelor's degree in Economics before attending Santiniketan for four years under the tutelage of Benode Behari Mukherjee, Nandalal Bose, and Ramkinkar Baij. Subramanyan received a British Council Research Fellowship in 1955 to study at the Slade School of Art, University of London.

He was also a prolific artist, employing a variety of mediums and styles as a writer, scholar, teacher, and art historian. His belief in the revival of Indian traditions led him to create a new artistic idiom that included drawing, oil painting, watercolour, murals, sculpture along with toy making, set design, glass painting, pottery, and weaving. His dedication to his art transformed Indian modernism and made it more diverse.

Subramanyan began his career in earnest in the 1950s, and his early training in Santiniketan was evident. As a young artist, he built a rudimentary framework for a visual language and vision of his own through his early works, influenced by Ramkinkar [Baij] and Benode Behari [Mukherjee] dissimilar mentors. (R Siva Kumar, Self Portraits and Other Early Drawings, Kolkata: Seagull Foundation for the Arts, 2020) K G Subramanyan was awarded a J D Rockefeller III Fund Fellowship in 1966, which involved a year in New York. His ongoing interest in semi-abstraction was further developed during this period, when he infused traditional techniques with a unique plasticity that contemporized and expanded their appeal.

Subramanyan's artistic lexicon expanded in the 1980s and included elements from a popular bazaar tradition of glass painting.  The works of Subramanyan were both uplifting and celebratory, subversive yet humane.  These works, which were executed with dazzling improvisation, were not just elaborate and expressive like many of his earlier works but also showcased his most vibrant artworks. 

His profound engagement with the world and his deliberate use of visual language to shift from one level to another were partly responsible for this.  By expressing his interest in writing, the artist's work elevated its quality and became an example of how language and art can coexist harmoniously. Subramanyan saw art as a kind of linguistic system, where artists could renew traditional forms while also maintaining contact with nature.  157)

Over fifty solo exhibitions have featured K G Subramanyan's work over the course of his career, including a comprehensive show in 2015-2016 by Kolkata'Seagull Foundation for the Arts and collaboration with the Jehangir Art Gallery and Harrington Street Arts Centre. Subramanyan, who was a member of the Fine Arts Faculty at M S University in Vadodara, served as an inspiration to numerous students for years. He passed away in Vadodara on 29. June 2016: At 92 years old.