Satish Gujral makes a very personal journey into the world of art, inspired by the dynamism of his creativity and the technical mastery over his medium. Brooding and elemental, his aesthetic world rises from a complex matrix that assimilates both the ancient and the modern.
He is a painter who sculpts and builds. His board vision synthesises painting, sculpture and architecture into one flowing force.
Satish Gujral was born at Jhelum in 1925. He attended the Mayo School of Arts at Lahore for five years, where he studied clay-modelling and graphic design amongst other subjects.
In 1944, he was awarded the All India Scholarship for advanced studies and joined the J. J. School of Art, Bombay, where he acquired the skills of painting and stone-carving.
Unlike his contemporaries who spent their formative years in Europe, Satish Gujral worked in Mexico, on a Mexican Government Scholarship, an area with close affinity to the Indian Psyche. Here he apprenticed in muralism with Deigo Rivera and David Alfaro Sequiros. His First solo show was held in Mexico City in 1953.
Disillusioned by the leftist philosophy that had earlier influenced him, Gujral committed himself to his inner artistic impulses. Returning from Mexico, he spent some years in New York and London imbibing and absorbing the trends and ideologies then prevalent there.
He returned to India after two successful exhibitions there and began to redefine his style, incorporating the three modes of painting, sculpture and architecture.
Today his work is included in the Hirshorn Collection, Washington D.C., the Hartford Museum U.S.A., the Museum of Modern Art, New York and several other prestigious collections.
He has been the recipient of the National Award thrice; ha has been honored by the Indian Institute of Architecture and the Delhi Kala Parisahad in 1989 and has had over 30 solo shows all over the world. Mr. Gujral is well known for the many stunning architectural designs he has created for hotels, residences, factories, universities, religious centers and embassies.
His works stand testimony to his virtuosity and artistic sensibilities. The Belgian Embassy, in New Delhi, is an architecture marvel that has earned him the ‘Order of the Crown’ by the King of Belgium.