Krishen Khanna: Last Modernist Standing

livemint.com:

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. "What is love of art?" says Krishen Khanna. “That I must be painting all the time." One of the founders of the Progressive Artists’ Group, the Mumbai-based artists who shaped the post-independence art scene in India, Khanna is the last surviving member of the iconic group of modernists.

At 99, he remains just as devoted to the pursuit of art as he was more than 40 years ago when he spent four years (1980-84) painting the mammoth and detailed The Great Procession on the ceiling of the lobby of the ITC Maurya in New Delhi. Among his most awe-inspiring works, the handpainted mural, which he describes as a “continuous procession with no beginning and no end", is a parade starting in India’s Mauryan past and continuing into scenes of the everyday. This panorama of vibrant imagery is imbued with a variety of emotions ranging from humour to pathos.

“I have been sketching and drawing as always," he replies over email when asked about his plans for his 100th year (he turns 100 in July 2025). “I have done a large painting depicting ‘dereliction’ recently. It took me a long time and went through many iterations." The art world, meanwhile, has been marking this milestone year—not just in the life of this deeply humanist painter but also in the intertwined history of a postindependence nation and Indian modernism—with a host of events.