Himmat Shah

Himmat Shah was born in 1933 in Lothal Gujarat. After initially training as a drawing teacher, he studied painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the M.S. University of Baroda, from 1956 to 1960. He was a National Cultural Scholar in 1956 and received a scholarship from the French government to study printmaking at the Atelier 17 in Paris in 1967.

Shah was a member of the 1890 Group, a short-lived artist collective founded by J. Swaminathan. The then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, inaugurated the group's first and only show in 1963. The group dispersed soon after, and each of its members, including Shah, continued their artistic practices with their agendas.

Shah's predilection for drawing was natural. Being an economical, transformative, and free form of expression, he was drawn to his negotiations with form and space. If one looks closely at his early drawings, he discovers the skill behind the chaotic black lines. These works are never predictable and are deeply ironic in the way they use a simple medium to interpret complex contemporary visual fields.

From 1967 to 1971, Himmat Shah designed and executed monumental murals in brick, cement, and concrete at St. Xaviers School in Ahmedabad. From then on he began to work in relief and sculpture in plaster, terracotta, and ceramics. Shah's sculptures in bronze and terracotta explore materiality, texture, and the various ways in which reality can be presented. They internalize the obsolescence inherent to a consumerist society. His gilded clay objects have traces of paints and there are illegible hieroglyphs engraved on his series of metal heads. They are elements that mock themselves and speak of age and decadence.

Shah's solo exhibitions include drawings and sculptures presented by Studio Confluence at Jehangir Nicholson Art Gallery, Mumbai, in 2007, an exhibition at Saffronart and Berkley Square Gallery, London, in 2007, Sculpture at Art Heritage, New Delhi, in 2002, and others made. at Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2005, Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi, in 2000, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, in 1994, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, in 1982, and Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi in 1973.

Himmat Shah's work has been part of many group exhibitions, including Yellow Deity Contemporary Indian Art at the Ludwig Museum, Budapest, in 1997, Rediscovering the Roots at the Museo de la Nacion, Lima, in 1997, Ninth Triennial - Seven Artists of the collection. at the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi, also in 1997, the Moscow Indian Art Festival in 1996, and the Paris Biennale in 1967 and 1970.

In 2003, the Government of Madhya Pradesh conferred the Kalidasa Samman on the artist. Shah was also awarded the All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS) Award, New Delhi, in 1996, and the Sahitya Kala Parishad Award, New Delhi, in 1988.

In 2016, the Kiran Nadar Art Museum held Hammer on the Square, a retrospective showcasing Shah's famous terracotta sculptures, bronzes, and drawings, alongside lesser-known murals, burnt paper collages, and silver paintings.

The artist lives and works in New Delhi.

BORN

July 22, 1933 Lothal, Gujarat

DIED

March 2, 2025 New Delhi

EDUCATION QUALIFICATIONS

1966-67 Studied with S. W. Hayter and Krishna Reddy, Atelier 17, Paris

1956-61 he Worked with Professor N.S Bendre, Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda

1953 Course for Drawing Teachers, Sir J. J. School of Art, Mumbai

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2016 HIMMAT SHAH Hammer in the Square A retrospective (1957-2015), Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), New Delhi

2007 Drawings and sculptures, presented by Studio Confluence at the Jehangir Nicholson Art Gallery, National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai

2007 Berkley Square Gallery, UK

2005 Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi

2002 Sculpture, Artistic Heritage, New Delhi

2000 Artistic Heritage, New Delhi

2000 Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi

1997 A Contemporary Royal Vision, Drawings, Shahajahan Art Gallery, New Delhi

1994 Sakshi Gallery, Bombay

1983 Sculpture Exhibition, Artistic Heritage, New Delhi

1982 Drawing Exhibition, Garhi, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi

1979 Dhoomimal Art Gallery, New Delhi

1976 Kala Parishad Gallery of Madya Pradesh, Bhopal

1974 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi

1973 Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi

1971 Konark Art Gallery, New Delhi

1966 Chemould Gallery, New Delhi and Mumbai

1965 Art and Print Gallery, Calcutta

1965 Kunika Chemould Art Center, New Delhi

1964 Kunika Chemould Art Center, New Delhi

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2011 The Art of Drawing, The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai

2010 Vahana, Bombay Art Gallery, Mumbai

2010 Essential, eclectic, ephemeral, The Harrington Mansions, Kolkata

2007 The Workshop, Indian Fine Arts, Mumbai

2007 A Question of Forms, Samanvai Art Gallery, Rajasthan

2006 Tangibles, Priyasri Art Gallery, Mumbai

2006 Espace Gallery, New Delhi

2005 Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi

2005 Manifestations III, Nehru Centre, Mumbai, Delhi Art Gallery and Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi

2004 Manifestations II, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, Delhi Art Gallery and Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi

2004 Demonstrations I, World Trade Centre, Mumbai, Delhi Art Gallery and Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi

2000 Art Heritage Gallery, New Delhi

1999 Notable Exceptions Im Gallery, New Delhi

1998 Living on the Edge, Art Inc. Gallery, New Delhi

1998 Art Inc. Gallery, New Delhi

1998 Face-to-Face Artists of Baroda, Rabindra Bhavan, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi

1994 Group Still Life Exhibition, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai

1993 Drawings, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai

1992 Heads, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai

1991 Nine Indian Contemporaries, Center for Contemporary Art, New Delhi

1989 Timeless Art, organized by Times of India, Mumbai

1982 Depicted at the inaugural exhibition of the Roopankar Museum, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal

1980 Visual Arts Centre, Ahmedabad

1978 Exhibition of Prints, Garhi, Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi

1977 Pictorial space, New Delhi

1976 Kala Parishad Gallery of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal

1967.68 Five Contemporaries, Kunika Chemould Art Centre, New Delhi

1964 Triveni Gallery, New Delhi

1963 Participated in the Group 1890 exhibition, New Delhi

1962 Group Exhibition of Progressive Painters, Ahmedabad

1957-58 Baroda Group Exhibition, Mumbai

PARTICIPATIONS

2012 Crossings Time Unfolded, Part 2, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), New Delhi

2011 Ethos V Indian Art through the Lens of History (1900 to 1980), Indigo Blue Art, Singapore

2011 Manifestations VI, Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi

2011 Manifestations V, Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi

2011 Time Unfolded, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), New Delhi

2011 Intuitive Logic Revisited, from the Osians Collection at the World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland

2010 Manifestations IV, Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi

2008-09 Peace Mandala, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi

1997 Contemporary Indian art of the yellow deity, Museum of Contemporary Art, Ludwig Museum, Budapest

1997 Rediscovering the Roots of Contemporary Indian Art, Museum of the Nation, Lima, Peru

1997 Ninth Indian Triennial Seven artists from the collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), New Delhi

1996 Roopankar Festival of Contemporary Indian Art, Indian Art Collection, Moscow

1982 Festival of India Exhibitions London

1979 Silver Jubilee Sculpture Exhibition, organized by Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi and Mumbai

1975 Participated in the Biennale-13, Middleheim 1975, Antwerp

1970 Paris Biennale

1968 Triennial, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi

1967 Paris Biennale

1965 Selected for representation in Indian Painting Today, London

1960 National Exhibition, Rabindra Bhavan, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi

HONORS AND AWARD

2003 Honored by Kalidasa Samman by the Government of Madhya Pradesh

1996 Received the award from the Indian Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi

1994-96 Emeritus Fellowship awarded by the Government of India to eminent artists in the field of performing arts, literature, and fine arts

1988 Received Sahitya Kala Parishad Award, New Delhi

1983-85 Received a Government of India Scholarship for Outstanding Artists

1981-82 Received Lalit Kala Akademis Research Fellowship to work at Garhi Studio, New Delhi

1962 Received the Bombay Art Society Award, Mumbai

1962 Received the Lalit Kala National Painting Award, New Delhi

1960 He also received the Gold Medal from the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art

1959 Received the Lalit Kala National Painting Award, New Delhi

1956-61 Scholarship awarded by the Government of India for advanced studies in painting, under the guidance of Prof. N.S. Bendre

himmat shah sculpture price, himmat shah work bronze, himmat shah terracotta sculpture