Arpita Singh: Difference between revisions

What links here Related changes Page information Get shortened URL
Created by 14GTR
Last edited February 6, 2026
← Older edit
VisualWikitext
Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit Advanced mobile edit
further update formatting per sources and cleaned formatting for consistency
 
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Infobox person
{{Short description|Indian artist (born 1937)}}
| name              = Arpita Singh
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
| image             = The Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi, Ministry of Culture, Shri K.K. Chakravarty conferring the fellowship on eminent artist Arpita Singh, at a function, in New Delhi on October 10, 2014.jpg
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2023}}
| caption           = Singh in 2014
{{Infobox artist
| birth_date        = {{Birth year and age|1937}}
| birth_name      = Arpita Dutta
| birth_date      = {{birth date and age|1937|06|22|df=y}}
| image           = The Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi, Ministry of Culture, Shri K.K. Chakravarty conferring the fellowship on eminent artist Arpita Singh, at a function, in New Delhi on October 10, 2014 (cropped).jpg
| caption         = Singh in 2014
| spouse          = {{marriage|[[Paramjit Singh (artist)|Paramjit Singh]]|1962}}
| children        = [[Anjum Singh]]
| awards          = [[Padma Bhushan]] (2011)<br />[[List of Lalit Kala Akademi fellows|Fellowship of Lalit Kala Akademi]] (2014)
| birth_place      = [[Baranagar]], [[Calcutta]], [[Bengal Presidency]], British India
}}
}}


'''Arpita Singh''' (born '''Arpita Dutta''', 1937) is an [[India]]n artist. She was born in 1937 at [[Baranagar (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Baranagar]] in [[Kolkata]], [[West Bengal]], India.<ref name=ContemporaryWomenArtists>Contemporary Women Artists. St.James Press, 1999.</ref> Known to be a figurative artist and a modernist, her canvases have both a story line and a carnival of images arranged in a curiously subversive manner. Her artistic approach can be described as an expedition without destination. Her work reflects her background.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Collection Highlights|publisher=[[Kiran Nadar Museum of Art]]|isbn=978-81-928037-6-0}}</ref> She brings her inner vision of emotions to the art inspired by her own background and what she sees around the society that mainly affects women. Her works also include traditional Indian art forms and aesthetics, like miniaturist painting and different forms of folk art, employing them in her work regularly.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.vadehraart.com/arpita-singh|title=Arpita Singh|website=Vadehra Art Gallery|language=en-US|access-date=2018-03-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180303064401/http://www.vadehraart.com/arpita-singh|archive-date=2018-03-03|url-status=dead}}</ref>
'''Arpita Singh''' (''[[Maiden and married names|née]]'' '''Dutta'''; born 22 June 1937) is an Indian artist. Known to be a figurative artist and a modernist, she made her canvases to have both a story line and a carnival of images arranged in a curiously subversive manner. Her artistic approach can be described as an expedition without destination. Her work reflects her background.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Collection Highlights|year=2017 |publisher=[[Kiran Nadar Museum of Art]]|isbn=978-81-928037-6-0}}</ref> She brings her inner vision of emotions to the art inspired by her own background and what she sees around the society that mainly affects women. Her works also include traditional Indian art forms and aesthetics, like miniaturist painting and different forms of folk art, employing them in her work regularly.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.vadehraart.com/arpita-singh|title=Arpita Singh|website=Vadehra Art Gallery|language=en-US|access-date=2018-03-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180303064401/http://www.vadehraart.com/arpita-singh|archive-date=2018-03-03|url-status=dead}}</ref>


==Personal life==
==Personal life==
Arpita left [[Kolkata]] with her mother and brother in 1946, a year before [[1947 in India|India got its independence from the British rule]]. In 1962, she married fellow artist [[Paramjit Singh (artist)|Paramjit Singh]] and they had a daughter, artist [[Anjum Singh]]. Currently{{when|date=December 2020}} she lives in [[Nizamuddin East]], [[New Delhi]].
Arpita was born on 22 June 1937 in [[Baranagar]], [[Bengal Presidency]] (now [[West Bengal]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Singh, Arpita |url=https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000078941 |access-date=2022-06-25 |website=Grove Art Online |year=2003 |language=en |doi=10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.t078941|isbn=978-1-884446-05-4 |last1=Srinivasan |first1=Sumitra Kumar }}</ref> She left the city with her mother and brother in 1946, a year before India got its independence from the British rule in 1947. In 1962, she married fellow artist [[Paramjit Singh (artist)|Paramjit Singh]] and they had a daughter, artist [[Anjum Singh]]. Currently{{when|date=December 2020}} she lives in [[Nizamuddin East]], [[New Delhi]].


== Education ==
== Education ==
Arpita attended the [https://web.archive.org/web/20200503063311/http://www.dtu.ac.in/ Delhi Polytechnic] in New Delhi from 1954 to 1959 and graduated with a Diploma in Fine Arts.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.mojarto.com/blogs/mojarto-profiles-artist-arpita-singh|title=Mojarto Profiles Artist - Arpita Singh|website=www.mojarto.com|access-date=2019-02-02}}</ref>
Arpita attended the [[Delhi Technological University|Delhi Polytechnic]] in New Delhi from 1954–59 and graduated with a Diploma in Fine Arts.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.mojarto.com/blogs/mojarto-profiles-artist-arpita-singh|title=Mojarto Profiles Artist - Arpita Singh|website=www.mojarto.com|access-date=2019-02-02|archive-date=23 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190423074931/https://www.mojarto.com/blogs/mojarto-profiles-artist-arpita-singh|url-status=dead}}</ref>


==Career==
==Career==
After her graduation, Arpita Singh worked at the Weavers Service Centre, [[Ministry of Textiles|Ministry of Textiles, Government of India]] in New Delhi and experienced the textiles industry closely. Her stint as a textile designer reflects in her work. The [[Talwar Gallery]] showcased her works in their first ever exhibition, 'Tying Down', dedicated to Arpita Singh in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://talwargallery.com/arpita-tyingdowntime-pr/|title=Press Release – Tying down time « TALWAR GALLERY|language=en-US|access-date=2019-02-02}}</ref>
After her graduation, Arpita Singh worked at the Weavers' Service Centre, [[Ministry of Textiles|Ministry of Textiles, Government of India]] in New Delhi and experienced the textiles industry closely. Her stint as a textile designer reflects in her work. The [[Talwar Gallery]] showcased her works in their first ever exhibition, 'Tying Down', dedicated to Arpita Singh in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://talwargallery.com/arpita-tyingdowntime-pr/|title=Press Release – Tying down time « TALWAR GALLERY|language=en-US|access-date=2019-02-02}}{{Dead link|date=July 2025}}</ref>


She took on a job with the Cottage Industries Restoration Program, a body of the Government of India. While she worked in the program, she met traditional artists and weavers of India. This is said to have impacted her artwork too.
She took on a job with the Cottage Industries Restoration Program, a body of the Government of India. While she worked in the program, she met traditional artists and weavers of India. This is said to have impacted her artwork too.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}


Arpita Singh has significant contributions through a different social and political awareness. She was a founder member of the artists' group 'The Unknown', along with other alumni of the Department of Fine Arts of Delhi Polytechnic in the 1960s. The first group show of 'The Unknown' was held at IENS Building (now INS Building)<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/Meeting-deadlines-to-beat-the-eclipse/article14633015.ece|title=Meeting deadlines to beat the eclipse|last=Baruah|first=Amit|date=2016-09-11|work=The Hindu|access-date=2019-02-02|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref> at Rafi Marg, New Delhi in 1962.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/39877/9/09_chapter%203.pdf|title=The Personal Space of Woman: Paintings of Arpita Singh}}</ref>
Arpita Singh has significant contributions through a different social and political awareness. She was a founder member of the artists' group 'The Unknown', along with other alumni of the Department of Fine Arts of Delhi Polytechnic in the 1960s. The first group show of 'The Unknown' was held at IENS Building (now INS Building<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/Meeting-deadlines-to-beat-the-eclipse/article14633015.ece|title=Meeting deadlines to beat the eclipse|last=Baruah|first=Amit|date=2016-09-11|work=The Hindu|access-date=2019-02-02|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref>) at Rafi Marg, New Delhi in 1962.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/39877/9/09_chapter%203.pdf|title=The Personal Space of Woman: Paintings of Arpita Singh}}</ref>


=== First Exhibition ===
=== First exhibition ===
Arpita Singh's first exhibition was held at Kunika Chemould Gallery, organised by Roshan Alkazi, New Delhi in 1972.<ref name=":1" />
Arpita Singh's first exhibition was held at Kunika Chemould Gallery, organised by Roshan Alkazi, New Delhi in 1972.<ref name=":1" />


=== Exhibitions Thereafter ===
=== Exhibitions thereafter ===
Post 1972, Arpita Singh extensively showed her work at [[Royal Academy of Arts|Royal Academy of Arts at London]] (1982), the [[Centre Georges Pompidou|Centre Georges Pompiduo]], Paris (1986), show in Geneva (1987) and at the [[Art Gallery of New South Wales]] Sydney (1993).<ref name=":0" /> She has also participated in the 3rd and 4th Trienniale of New Delhi & at the [[Havana Biennial]] in 1987 and the Indo-Greek Cultural Exhibition, in Greece, 1984.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Collection Highlights|publisher=Kiran Nadar Museum of Art}}</ref><ref name="Talwar" />
Post 1972, Arpita Singh extensively showed her work at [[Royal Academy of Arts|Royal Academy of Arts at London]] (1982), the [[Centre Georges Pompidou|Centre Georges Pompiduo]], Paris (1986), show in Geneva (1987) and at the [[Art Gallery of New South Wales]] Sydney (1993).<ref name=":0" /> She has also participated in the 3rd and 4th Trienniale of New Delhi & at the [[Havana Biennial]] in 1987 and the Indo-Greek Cultural Exhibition, in Greece, 1984.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Collection Highlights|publisher=Kiran Nadar Museum of Art}}</ref><ref name="Talwar" />


More recently, her works have been exhibited at ‘Modern and Contemporary Indian Art’ at [http://www.vadehraart.com/ Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi], 2006; 'Progressive to Altermodern: 62 Years of Indian Modern Art' at [[Grosvenor Gallery|Grosvenor Gallery, London]], 2009; 'Kalpana: Figurative Art in India' presented by the [[Indian Council for Cultural Relations|Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR)]] at [http://www.aicongallery.com/ Aicon Gallery], London, 2009; 'The Root of Everything' at Gallery Mementos, [[Bangalore]], 2009.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vadehraart.com/arpita-singh|title=Arpita Singh|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180303064401/http://www.vadehraart.com/arpita-singh|archive-date=2018-03-03|url-status=dead}}</ref>
From 1987-89, Arpita organised and participated in the exhibition titled 'Through The Looking Glass' with her contemporaries, the women artists [[Nalini Malani]], [[Nilima Sheikh]], and [[Madhvi Parekh]]. The exhibition, featuring works by all four artists, travelled to five non-commercial venues across India.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Archive |first=Asia Art |title=Centre for Contemporary Art 1989–1990 |url=https://aaa.org.hk/en/collections/search/archive/nilima-sheikh-archive-documents-on-four-women-artists-from-nilima-sheikh/object/centre-for-contemporary-art-19891990 |access-date=2022-06-02 |website=aaa.org.hk |language=en}}</ref> Inspired by a meeting in 1979 with [[Nancy Spero]], [[May Stevens]] and [[Ana Mendieta]] at the [[A.I.R. Gallery|AIR Gallery]] in New York (the first all-female artists’ cooperative gallery in the US), Malani had planned to organise an exhibition entirely of works by women artists, which failed to materialise due to a lack of interest and support.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rix |first=Juliet |title=Nalini Malani – interview: 'The future is female. There is no other way' |url=https://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/nalini-malani-interview-the-future-is-female-there-is-no-other-way-fundacio-joan-miro-national-gallery-london |access-date=2022-06-02 |website=www.studiointernational.com}}</ref>


Her recent and select solo exhibitions include Work on Paper at Vadehra Art Gallery, 2016.<ref name=":0" />
Her works have been exhibited at ‘Modern and Contemporary Indian Art’ at Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, 2006; 'Progressive to Altermodern: 62 Years of Indian Modern Art' at [[Grosvenor Gallery|Grosvenor Gallery, London]], 2009; 'Kalpana: Figurative Art in India' presented by the [[Indian Council for Cultural Relations|Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR)]] at Aicon Gallery, London, 2009; 'The Root of Everything' at Gallery Mementos, [[Bangalore]], 2009.<ref name=":0" />
 
Her recent and select solo exhibitions include Work on Paper at Vadehra Art Gallery, 2016.<ref name=":0" />{{failed verification| date= May 2022}}
 
Singh's work was included in the 2021 exhibition ''[[Women in Abstraction]]'' at the [[Centre Pompidou]].<ref name="Women in abstraction">{{cite book |title=Women in abstraction |date=2021 |publisher=Thames & Hudson Ltd.; Thames & Hudson Inc |location=London : New York, New York |isbn=978-0500094372 |pages=170}}</ref> Her work was also included in the 2022 exhibition ''Women Painting Women'' at the [[Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth]].<ref name="Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth">{{cite web |title=Women Painting Women |url=https://www.themodern.org/exhibition/women-painting-women |website=Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth |access-date=16 May 2022 |language=en}}</ref>


=== Style ===
=== Style ===
Arpita Singh's early paintings were mainly water colors on paper. She would paint usually in black and white ink.<ref name="Milford-Lutzker">Milford-Lutzker, Mary-Ann, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/777857 "Intersections: Urban and Village Art in India"], jstor.org; accessed 6 February 2018.</ref>
Arpita Singh's early paintings were mainly water colors on paper. She would paint usually in black and white ink.<ref name="Milford-Lutzker">Milford-Lutzker, Mary-Ann, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/777857 "Intersections: Urban and Village Art in India"], jstor.org; accessed 6 February 2018.</ref>


By the 80s, she started to paint Bengali folk paintings with women as the focus. She would use vibrant colors in a rather restrained way and her palette is usually dominated by pinks and blues.<ref name=":0" /> Her paintings would show women doing daily work and following simple routines in their lives.<ref name="ContemporaryWomenArtists" /> Arpita would draw daily use objects like trees, flowers, flower vases, animals, teapots, pillows, festoons and flags, and show women surrounded by them. Child Bride with Swan (1985) and Girl Smoking Cigarette (1985) are examples of her protagonists, leading uncomplicated lives.<ref name=":2" />
By the 80s, she started to paint Bengali folk paintings with women as the focus. She would use vibrant colors in a rather restrained way and her palette is usually dominated by pinks and blues.<ref name=":0" /> Her paintings would show women doing daily work and following simple routines in their lives.<ref name="ContemporaryWomenArtists">Contemporary Women Artists. St.James Press, 1999.</ref> Arpita would draw daily use objects like trees, flowers, flower vases, animals, teapots, pillows, festoons and flags, and show women surrounded by them. Child Bride with Swan (1985) and Girl Smoking Cigarette (1985) are examples of her protagonists, leading uncomplicated lives and deaths.<ref name=":2" />


In the 90s, Arpita's style of painting shifted to oil on canvas, but she continued to paint women-centric art. A lot of women emotions started to become evident in her paintings - Joy, sorrow, hope, and many more. She painted a series of paintings on the subject "Women with a Girl Child" in the last decade of 20th century.<ref name=":1" /> Arpita would showcase the problems like hatred, social injustice, etc. faced by a contemporary woman in her art. She would also paint around the ills related to girl child in India. In some of her paintings the women appear nude, but her paintings do not have sexual overtones and reflect the woman's vulnerability.<ref name=":2" />
In the 90s, Arpita's style of painting shifted to oil on canvas, but she continued to paint women-centric art. A lot of women emotions started to become evident in her paintings - Joy, sorrow, hope, and many more. She painted a series of paintings on the subject "Women with a Girl Child" in the last decade of 20th century.<ref name=":1" /> Arpita would showcase the problems like hatred, social injustice, etc. faced by a contemporary woman in her art. She would also paint around the ills related to girl child in India. In some of her paintings the women appear nude, but her paintings do not have sexual overtones and reflect the woman's vulnerability.<ref name=":2" />


Arpita's paintings spoke a lot about wars and situation of turmoil at the national and international level. She would draw objects like guns, knives, cars and planes, soldiers, killers and corpses. India's former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination, the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, communal riots and the Gulf War are some examples. Women would continue to find the center stage in her art and are shown at the receiving end. The White Chair (1983), The series on [[Ayesha Kidwai]], Durga (1993), My Mother (1993) and A Dead Man on the Street: is It You, Krishna (1994) are some of her paintings echoing this mood.
==Reception==


==Awards==
=== Awards ===
Arpita Singh has exhibited all over the world, at both individual and group exhibits. She has also won a number of awards for her work.<ref name="Profile">[http://www.contemporaryindianart.com/arpita_singh.htm Arpita Singh profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071223092040/http://www.contemporaryindianart.com/arpita_singh.htm |date=2007-12-23 }}, contemporaryindianart.com; accessed 6 February 2018.</ref> Those include:
Arpita Singh has exhibited all over the world, at both individual and group exhibits. She has also won a number of awards for her work.<ref name="Profile">[http://www.contemporaryindianart.com/arpita_singh.htm Arpita Singh profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071223092040/http://www.contemporaryindianart.com/arpita_singh.htm |date=2007-12-23 }}, contemporaryindianart.com; accessed 6 February 2018.</ref> Those include:


2014: Fellowship of Lalit Kala Akademi<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/voices/between-the-poetic-and-the-visual|title=Between the Poetic And the Visual|website=OPEN Magazine|language=en|access-date=2019-03-12}}</ref>
* 2014 - [[List of Lalit Kala Akademi fellows|Fellowship of Lalit Kala Akademi]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/voices/between-the-poetic-and-the-visual|title=Between the Poetic And the Visual|website=OPEN Magazine|date=25 November 2015 |language=en|access-date=2019-03-12}}</ref>
2011: Padma Bhushan
* 2011 - [[Padma Bhushan]]
1998-1999: [[Kalidas Samman]], Bhopal<ref name="Talwar">{{Cite web |url=http://talwargallery.com/arpita-bio/ |title=Arpita Singh |publisher=Talwar Gallery |access-date=2018-03-30}}</ref>
* 1998-1999: [[Kalidas Samman]], Bhopal<ref name="Talwar">{{Cite web |url=http://talwargallery.com/arpita-bio/ |title=Arpita Singh |publisher=Talwar Gallery |access-date=2018-03-30}}</ref>
1991: Parishad Samman, [[Sahitya Kala Parishad]], [[New Delhi]]<ref name="Profile" />
* 1991 - Parishad Samman, [[Sahitya Kala Parishad]], [[New Delhi]]<ref name="Profile" />
 
*Singh is listed in Hurun India 2025 Women Leaders.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hurun India list: Meet the top-ranked woman leader with her co's valuation at Rs 3,81,700 cr. Who else made to the list? |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/hurun-india-list-meet-the-top-ranked-woman-leader-with-her-cos-valuation-at-rs-381700-cr-who-else-made-to-the-list/articleshow/121616667.cms |website=The Economic Times |date=4 June 2025}}</ref>
== Exhibitions ==
Arpita Singh has more than twenty solo shows to her credit including several in Chandigarh, Bhopal, Mumbai and New Delhi.<ref name=":0" /> They include:
 
; 2019 : Submergence: In the midst of here and there, at KNMA, Saket, Delhi<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/watch/arpita-singh-of-stories-untold/article26148526.ece|title=Arpita Singh: Of stories untold|last=Datta|first=Ella|website=@businessline|language=en|access-date=2019-03-12}}</ref>
; 2018 : [https://www.talwargallery.com/exhibitions/arpita-singh Tying down time II], [[Talwar Gallery]], New York
; 2017 : [https://www.talwargallery.com/exhibitions/arpita-singh2 Tying down time], [https://www.talwargallery.com/exhibitions/arpita-singh2 Talwar Gallery], New York<ref>{{Cite web|title=Past Exhibitions « TALWAR GALLERY|url=https://www.talwargallery.com/artists/arpita-singh#tab:slideshow|url-status=live|access-date=2019-03-12|language=en-US}}</ref>
; 2006 : Picture Postcard 2003 – 2006, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi <ref name=":0" />
; 2003: Memory Jars, [http://www.bosepacia.com/ Bose Pacia Modern], New York <ref name=":0" />
; 1994 : Drawing 94, [http://www.galleryespace.com/ Gallery Espace], New Delhi<ref name=":0" />


==Publications==
==Publications==
Line 67: Line 69:


==External links==
==External links==
{{Commons category|Arpita Singh}}
*[http://www.artnet.com/artists/arpita-singh/ Arpita Singh] at [[Artnet.com]]
*[http://www.artnet.com/artists/arpita-singh/ Arpita Singh] at [[Artnet.com]]
*[https://www.dictionnaire-creatrices.com/fiche-arpita-singh Arpita Singh] at {{ill|Dictionnaire-Creatrices|fr|Dictionnaire universel des créatrices}}
*[https://www.dictionnaire-creatrices.com/fiche-arpita-singh Arpita Singh] at {{ill|Dictionnaire-Creatrices|fr|Dictionnaire universel des créatrices}}
Line 74: Line 77:
*[https://scroll.in/magazine/836057/how-a-brief-interlude-of-abstract-art-transformed-the-career-of-the-legendary-arpita-singh How a brief interlude of abstract art transformed the career of the legendary Arpita Singh], [[Scroll.in]]
*[https://scroll.in/magazine/836057/how-a-brief-interlude-of-abstract-art-transformed-the-career-of-the-legendary-arpita-singh How a brief interlude of abstract art transformed the career of the legendary Arpita Singh], [[Scroll.in]]


{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 2010–19}}
{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 2010–19}}{{Fellows of the Lalit Kala Akademi|state=collapsed}}{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Arpita}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Arpita}}
Line 85: Line 87:
[[Category:Painters from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Painters from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts]]
[[Category:Indian women painters]]
[[Category:Women artists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Women artists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian painters]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian painters]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women artists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Lalit Kala Akademi]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women artists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women painters]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women painters]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian painters]]

Latest revision as of 11:18, 6 February 2026


Arpita Singh
Singh in 2014
Born
Arpita Dutta

(1937-06-22) 22 June 1937 (age 89)
Baranagar, Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India
Spouse(s)
(
m. 1962)
ChildrenAnjum Singh
AwardsPadma Bhushan (2011)
Fellowship of Lalit Kala Akademi (2014)

Arpita Singh (née Dutta; born 22 June 1937) is an Indian artist. Known to be a figurative artist and a modernist, she made her canvases to have both a story line and a carnival of images arranged in a curiously subversive manner. Her artistic approach can be described as an expedition without destination. Her work reflects her background.[1] She brings her inner vision of emotions to the art inspired by her own background and what she sees around the society that mainly affects women. Her works also include traditional Indian art forms and aesthetics, like miniaturist painting and different forms of folk art, employing them in her work regularly.[2]

Personal life[edit | edit source]

Arpita was born on 22 June 1937 in Baranagar, Bengal Presidency (now West Bengal).[3] She left the city with her mother and brother in 1946, a year before India got its independence from the British rule in 1947. In 1962, she married fellow artist Paramjit Singh and they had a daughter, artist Anjum Singh. Currently[when?] she lives in Nizamuddin East, New Delhi.

Education[edit | edit source]

Arpita attended the Delhi Polytechnic in New Delhi from 1954–59 and graduated with a Diploma in Fine Arts.[4]

Career[edit | edit source]

After her graduation, Arpita Singh worked at the Weavers' Service Centre, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India in New Delhi and experienced the textiles industry closely. Her stint as a textile designer reflects in her work. The Talwar Gallery showcased her works in their first ever exhibition, 'Tying Down', dedicated to Arpita Singh in 2017.[5]

She took on a job with the Cottage Industries Restoration Program, a body of the Government of India. While she worked in the program, she met traditional artists and weavers of India. This is said to have impacted her artwork too.[citation needed]

Arpita Singh has significant contributions through a different social and political awareness. She was a founder member of the artists' group 'The Unknown', along with other alumni of the Department of Fine Arts of Delhi Polytechnic in the 1960s. The first group show of 'The Unknown' was held at IENS Building (now INS Building[6]) at Rafi Marg, New Delhi in 1962.[7]

First exhibition[edit | edit source]

Arpita Singh's first exhibition was held at Kunika Chemould Gallery, organised by Roshan Alkazi, New Delhi in 1972.[7]

Exhibitions thereafter[edit | edit source]

Post 1972, Arpita Singh extensively showed her work at Royal Academy of Arts at London (1982), the Centre Georges Pompiduo, Paris (1986), show in Geneva (1987) and at the Art Gallery of New South Wales Sydney (1993).[2] She has also participated in the 3rd and 4th Trienniale of New Delhi & at the Havana Biennial in 1987 and the Indo-Greek Cultural Exhibition, in Greece, 1984.[8][9]

From 1987-89, Arpita organised and participated in the exhibition titled 'Through The Looking Glass' with her contemporaries, the women artists Nalini Malani, Nilima Sheikh, and Madhvi Parekh. The exhibition, featuring works by all four artists, travelled to five non-commercial venues across India.[10] Inspired by a meeting in 1979 with Nancy Spero, May Stevens and Ana Mendieta at the AIR Gallery in New York (the first all-female artists’ cooperative gallery in the US), Malani had planned to organise an exhibition entirely of works by women artists, which failed to materialise due to a lack of interest and support.[11]

Her works have been exhibited at ‘Modern and Contemporary Indian Art’ at Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, 2006; 'Progressive to Altermodern: 62 Years of Indian Modern Art' at Grosvenor Gallery, London, 2009; 'Kalpana: Figurative Art in India' presented by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) at Aicon Gallery, London, 2009; 'The Root of Everything' at Gallery Mementos, Bangalore, 2009.[2]

Her recent and select solo exhibitions include Work on Paper at Vadehra Art Gallery, 2016.[2][failed verification]

Singh's work was included in the 2021 exhibition Women in Abstraction at the Centre Pompidou.[12] Her work was also included in the 2022 exhibition Women Painting Women at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.[13]

Style[edit | edit source]

Arpita Singh's early paintings were mainly water colors on paper. She would paint usually in black and white ink.[14]

By the 80s, she started to paint Bengali folk paintings with women as the focus. She would use vibrant colors in a rather restrained way and her palette is usually dominated by pinks and blues.[2] Her paintings would show women doing daily work and following simple routines in their lives.[15] Arpita would draw daily use objects like trees, flowers, flower vases, animals, teapots, pillows, festoons and flags, and show women surrounded by them. Child Bride with Swan (1985) and Girl Smoking Cigarette (1985) are examples of her protagonists, leading uncomplicated lives and deaths.[4]

In the 90s, Arpita's style of painting shifted to oil on canvas, but she continued to paint women-centric art. A lot of women emotions started to become evident in her paintings - Joy, sorrow, hope, and many more. She painted a series of paintings on the subject "Women with a Girl Child" in the last decade of 20th century.[7] Arpita would showcase the problems like hatred, social injustice, etc. faced by a contemporary woman in her art. She would also paint around the ills related to girl child in India. In some of her paintings the women appear nude, but her paintings do not have sexual overtones and reflect the woman's vulnerability.[4]

Reception[edit | edit source]

Awards[edit | edit source]

Arpita Singh has exhibited all over the world, at both individual and group exhibits. She has also won a number of awards for her work.[16] Those include:

Publications[edit | edit source]

2018: Arpita Singh: Tying down time, Talwar Gallery [19]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Collection Highlights. Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. 2017. ISBN 978-81-928037-6-0.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Arpita Singh". Vadehra Art Gallery. Archived from the original on 3 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  3. ↑ Srinivasan, Sumitra Kumar (2003). "Singh, Arpita". Grove Art Online. doi:10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.t078941. ISBN 978-1-884446-05-4. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Mojarto Profiles Artist - Arpita Singh". www.mojarto.com. Archived from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  5. ↑ "Press Release – Tying down time « TALWAR GALLERY". Retrieved 2 February 2019.[dead link]
  6. ↑ Baruah, Amit (11 September 2016). "Meeting deadlines to beat the eclipse". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "The Personal Space of Woman: Paintings of Arpita Singh" (PDF).
  8. ↑ Collection Highlights. Kiran Nadar Museum of Art.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Arpita Singh". Talwar Gallery. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  10. ↑ Archive, Asia Art. "Centre for Contemporary Art 1989–1990". aaa.org.hk. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  11. ↑ Rix, Juliet. "Nalini Malani – interview: 'The future is female. There is no other way'". www.studiointernational.com. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  12. ↑ Women in abstraction. London : New York, New York: Thames & Hudson Ltd.; Thames & Hudson Inc. 2021. p. 170. ISBN 978-0500094372.
  13. ↑ "Women Painting Women". Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  14. ↑ Milford-Lutzker, Mary-Ann, "Intersections: Urban and Village Art in India", jstor.org; accessed 6 February 2018.
  15. ↑ Contemporary Women Artists. St.James Press, 1999.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Arpita Singh profile Archived 2007-12-23 at the Wayback Machine, contemporaryindianart.com; accessed 6 February 2018.
  17. ↑ "Between the Poetic And the Visual". OPEN Magazine. 25 November 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  18. ↑ "Hurun India list: Meet the top-ranked woman leader with her co's valuation at Rs 3,81,700 cr. Who else made to the list?". The Economic Times. 4 June 2025.
  19. ↑ Datta, Ella: Talwar, Deepak: Singh, Arpita Arpita Singh: Tying down time (1st ed.). Talwar Gallery ISBN 978-81-936663-1-9

External links[edit | edit source]

Retrieved from "https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arpita_Singh&oldid=455467"
Discover more