Sudhir Khastgir

1907-1974

Sudhir Khastgir studied at Santiniketan and graduated under
Nandalal Bose in 1929. Later, he went to Bombay to learn stone
carving at the studio of the sculptor Ganpat Kashinath Mahtre
(1933). He began his career as the art teacher at the Scindia
School in Gwalior and later at the Doon School in 1935 where
he taught for twenty years. In 1937 he received a travelling Fellowship
from the Deutsche Akademie of Munich. His first solo
exhibition in London in 1939 was at India House. He exhibited
several times in England and in India. He became a Fellow of
the Royal Society of Arts, London (1937). He was prolific in
painting and sculpting, writing in Bengali and English, and also
playing the flute and singing. Khastgir wrote articles on art collected
in Myself and Other Writings published by Monfakira and
an autobiography in Bengali, Amar E Path. He was awarded the
Padma Shri by the Indian government in 1958.