Arpana Caur

Arpana Caur is an Indian contemporary painter and graphic artist. Arpana Caur exhibits dynamism and deep insight in her depictions of women's conditions in modern India. A self-taught artist, Caur's portrayals of women in urban environments reflect her concerns with the issues of our time: life and death, violence, the environment, and women's issues. Clothing is a recurring theme in her work, both reinforcing and undermining the established image of women.

Early life and education
Arpana Caur was born in 1954, in Delhi. She comes from a Sikh family who fled the Pakistani West Punjab to the Republic of India in 1947 during the confusion over the partition of British India. Her mother Ajit Kaur (born in 1934), is a writer who writes in Panjabi. She has not had her first name Arpana since her birth, but she adopted it at the age of fifteen, as an expression of a personal development process.

Her exposure to art, music and literature happened early in her life. She learnt the Sitar, wrote poetry, but enjoyed painting the most. At the age of nine, she made her first oil painting, 'Mother & Daughter' inspired by the works of Amrita Shergil. Arpana graduated from the University of Delhi with a Master of Arts degree in literature. She never received formal training in painting, and was largely self taught. She proceeded to receive training in the etching technique at the Garhi Studios in New Delhi, completing it in 1982.

In an interview with Yashodhara Dalmia, when asked if she called herself a 'feminist', Caur immediately replied with a resounding 'no' because the themes she incorporates or is curious about, go beyond gender and ones that every human is faced with.

Influences and style
Arpana Caur's paintings were shaped by the events and situations around her. Her works very much focus on social issues that highlight the victimized. In addition, there is a clear influence of existing traditions in her works, namely drawing from the Gond, Gondna, Madhubani, miniature and folk art forms. Her mother's strong influence on her extended into her works; where the 'woman' often occupies a central focus. Her works are also inspired by Pahari miniatures (hill-paintings), Punjabi literature, and Indian folk art.

One will notice that Caur's works encompass paintings with watercolour, gauche and sculptures that are layered with motifs, myths and stories that the artist purposefully references. It is important to point out that she used the 'scissors' motif so often that it earned her the pet name kainchi.

'Spirituality', and 'Time' are recurring themes in her works. In conduction with that, she is also intrigued by the themes of 'Life' and 'Death'. Nature and figures play a vital role in the stories she tells through her works.

In the 1990s, Caur created a series of collaborations with Indian folk artists from the indigenous ethnic groups of Warli and Godna, who lived in the Madhubani region of the Indian state of Bihar. She is one of the first contemporary artists to have collaborated with folk artisans.

In 1995, she was commissioned to do a large work 'Tears from Hiroshima' by the Hiroshima Museum of Modern Art to create a mural to mark the 50th anniversary of the bombings. This work was also shown at the Documenta at Kassel. Interestingly, the artist was afraid of the temporary aspect of this installation and decided to add in pots brimming with water signifying tears within the context of the man-made tragedy.

Group exhibitions
1995 Inside Out: Contemporary Women Artists of India, Middlesbrough Art Gallery

1992 Crossing Black Waters

1988 Graven Images

1988 Numaish Lait Kala

1984 First Indo- Greek Cultural Symposium and group shows, Athens and Delphi

1981 Executed two large murals for India International Trade Fair, New Delhi

Reviews, articles texts
Eddie Chambers, 'Inside Out: Contemporary Women Artists of India', Art Monthly no193, (February 1996) 35-37. Besides this, her work has been covered extensively in newspapers, magazines, art books and International Herald Tribune, Arts Review London, Citizen Ottawa, Die Welt and Dagens Nhyter Stockholm.

Caur has also been cinematically covered with numerous films and biopics by BBC London, Sidharth Tagore, Chandermani, Doordarshan and Raqs Media.

Awards and honours

 * 2017 B. C. Sanyal award.
 * 2011 Rotary Club of Delhi: The Lifetime Achievement Award for Vocational Excellence
 * 2010 Sikh Art and Film Foundation, New York: The Lifetime Achievement Award
 * 2009 Chief Guest for Conferring B.F.A. degrees, Delhi College of Art Convocation
 * 2007 T.K. Padamini Award, Kerala Govt.
 * 2001 Advisory Committee Member: National Gallery of Modern Art Delhi, Lalit Kala Academy, and Sahitya Kala Parishad
 * 1995–98 Selection Committee member, Republic Day Pageants for Ministry of Defence, Govt. of India
 * 1995 Commissioned by Hiroshima Museum to excite a large work for its permanent collection on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Holocaust
 * 1991–92 Purchase Committee Member, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
 * 1990–2000 Collaborated with Gonna artist Sat Narain Pandey and for the first time in India, co-signed works with him
 * 1990–02 Jury Member, Republic Day Pageants New Delhi Nominated Eminent Artist by Lalit Kala Academy
 * 1989 Jury Member, National Exhibition, New Delhi
 * 1987 VI Triennele Gold Medal for Painting (International exhibition)
 * 1986 Gold Medal at 6th India Triennale (awarded by the Lalit Kala Akademi)
 * 1985 All India Fine Arts Society Award
 * 1984 Research Grant from Lalit Kala Academy for painting in Garhi Studio, New Delhi

Collections
Caur's paintings have been collected extensively in collections, both public and private, which include:


 * Victoria and Albert Museum London
 * Rockefeller Collection, New York
 * Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
 * Singapore Museum of Modern Art, Singapore
 * National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai
 * Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh
 * Ethnographic Museum, Stockholm
 * Kunst Museum, Düsseldorf
 * Bradford Museum, Bradford, U.K
 * Glenbarra Museum, Japan
 * Deutsche Bank, Mumbai and Chandigarh
 * Kapany Collection, San Francisco
 * Asian Art Museum, San Francisco
 * Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation, Mumbai
 * Birla Akademi Collection, Calcutta
 * Peabody Essex Museum, Boston
 * Reubens Museum, New York
 * Venkatappa Museum (Roerich & Hebbar), Bangalore
 * Bharat Bhawan, Bhopal
 * Bengal Foundation, Dhaka
 * J.K Kejriwal Museum Collection, Bangalore Dhaka Museum

Social consciousness
Arpana Caur has been leading the Academy of Fine Arts & Literature which hosts the South Asian Literature Festival; strengthening bonds between authors from the subcontinent.

She is known to have successfully rallied against the felling of trees in New Delhi's Siri forest area during the construction of food courts / restaurants for the 2010 Commonwealth Games Village.

She supports a leprosy home in Ghaziabad, setup in the memory of her younger sister. The home also offers vocational training for young girls.