Gurugram art gallery honours Krishen Khanna at 100

The exhibition has been conceived as an immersive presentation of Khanna’s recent and evolving practice.

One of India’s most respected modern artists, Krishen Khanna, marked a historic milestone as Antarang Art Gallery opened an exhibition, “The Centenarian Master” honouring his works on Saturday. The exhibition running until January 4, is being held at the Camellias, DLF Golf Links, Gurugram.

The event featured up to seven-decade-old art. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

The exhibition commemorates Khanna completing 100 years and brings together a rare selection of paintings, drawings and sculptures spanning more than seven decades of his artistic practice.

The exhibition is open to visitors daily from 11 am to 7 pm, except on Mondays, organisers said. Visitors without invites will need to contact the gallery at +91 7428528858 to obtain an entry code.

The opening unfolded with bagpipers welcoming guests. Several artworks bore red dots on the very first day, indicating sales and reaffirming Khanna’s resonance with collectors and audiences alike.

To be sure, red dots are traditionally used in galleries to indicate sold works.

The exhibition has been conceived as an immersive presentation of Khanna’s recent and evolving practice. Central to the show are works that originate from drawing, which are later enlarged and hand-painted into mixed-media compositions. The exhibition also showcases Khanna’s most celebrated works such as bandwallas, migrant workers and mythological beings, reflecting his lifelong engagement with social realities and inner human worlds. Sculptural works, ranging from wall-mounted reliefs to free standing forms are also displayed.

Sania G. Vohra, founder-director of Antarang Art Gallery, said, “Presenting Krishen Khanna’s work in his centenary year is a rare honour. Hosting the exhibition in Gurugram, where he resides, allows art to become intimate and a part of everyday life.”

Payal Verma, founder and gallery owner of Passage Art, Khan Market, Delhi, called the exhibition “a visual treat”. “The selection is vibrant and beautiful, and the sculptures are outstanding. It is extraordinary to witness such clarity, intensity and freshness of expression at 100,” she said.

Born in 1925 in Lyallpur, pre-Partition Punjab (now in Pakistan), Krishen Khanna is a key member of the Progressive Artists’ Group and among the most respected voices of Indian modernism. He was conferred the Padma Shri in 1990 and the Padma Bhushan in 2011 for his contribution to Indian art. Khanna began his artistic journey in the mid-1940s, holding his first exhibition in 1946 while still working with Grindlays Bank, before committing fully to art in the decades that followed. He is best known for his bandwalla series, partition-themed works, depictions of migrant workers and urban street life, and later myth-inspired paintings drawn from the Mahabharata.

As visitors moved through the gallery amid hushed conversations and the lingering sound of bagpipes, the exhibition stood as a tribute to an artist whose work continues to remain relevant and emits grace.