Krishen Khanna

b. 1925

Krishen Khanna attended classes at the Mayo School of Art
in Lahore before moving to Shimla during partition. A largely
self-taught artist, Khanna graduated from the Imperial Service
College, Windsor, England in 1940. Later he joined Grindlays
Bank in Mumbai and was invited to join the Progressive Artists’
Group with whom he remained in continued association. Khanna
was awarded the Rockefeller Fellowship in 1962 and was Artist
in Residence at the American University in Washington in
1963-1964. Apart from several solo shows he has participated
in group shows including Tokyo Biennale (1957 and 1961), Sao
Paulo Biennale (1960), Venice Biennale (1962), and Festival of
India in the then USSR and in Japan in 1987 and 1988. Khanna
has held positions in decision-making bodies of the Lalit Kala
Akademi, National Gallery of Modem Art and Roopanker Museum,
Bhopal. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1990 and Lalit
Kala Ratna in 2004. Khanna lives and works in Delhi.