Veteran artist and iconic painter Akbar Padamsee breathed his last on January 7, Monday. Commemorating the great artist, the Jehangir Nicholson Gallery in Mumbai tweeted that they will commemorate the life of the exceptional artist with an exhibition of his works from the Jehangir Nicholson Collection.
Rest in peace Akbar Padamsee.
— JNAF (@JNAF_Mumbai) January 6, 2020
We will commemorate the life of this exceptional artist with an exhibition of his works from the Jehangir Nicholson Collection.#akbarpadamsee pic.twitter.com/NO4xrSpcDu
Padamsee was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Indian government in 2010. He was known for his works in various mediums such as oil painting, plastic emulsion, watercolour, printmaking and computer graphics. Padamsee was also a filmmaker, sculptor, photographer, engraver, and lithographer.
In 1954, Padamsee had sparked controversy after he held his first solo exhibition at the Jehangir Art Gallery. Some viewers did not like the content of some of his paintings which they deemed 'obscene'. Two particular paintings, 'Lovers I' and 'Lovers II', which showed an intimate portrait of a nude couple, caused a "furore".
Following which, the city police had ordered the removal of the paintings but Padamsee refused to comply.
As a result, a charge sheet was filed against him for obscenity, and he was arrested and granted bail the same day – May 2, 1954. The Esplanade Court, which heard the case, ruled that the paintings would be returned to the artist if he did not display them in public.
For his work, Padamsee was awarded a gold medal by the Lalit Kala Akademi in 1962 and in 1965 he was honoured with a fellowship from the JD Rockefeller Foundation. In 1997, Padamsee received the Kalidas Samman award by the Madhya Pradesh government.
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