Jehangir Sabavala’s amazing art career has spanned over six decades.  

The master artist’s first solo exhibit was in a hired room of Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Hotel. The solo was put up with the help of his friend and fellow artist MF Husain. He has not looked back since then…The veteran artist has held over 30 one-man shows across India and abroad, apart from participations in several prominent group art shows, fairs and artists’ collectives.

Three monographs have already been published on this artist by eminent art publishers like the Lalit Kala Academy (LKA) in New Delhi and the house of Tata- McGraw-Hill. ‘Colours of Absence’, a short film on his life, received the national award in 1994. Jehangir Sabavala has been honored with the ‘Padma Shri’ by the Government of India in 1977.

Born in 1922 in Mumbai, the veteran artist received his first fine arts diploma from Sir J. J. School of Arts in 1944. Later, he studied at London’s Heatherley School of Art (1945-47); the Paris-based Academie Andre Lhote (1948-51), and the Academic de la Grande Chaumiere(1957).

Elaborating on his style, a curatorial note to his recent solo at Sakshi gallery mentioned: “In his works, the songs of the seasons continue without any pause. There is that majesty of nature, apart from a love of the muted tones coupled with an avid fascination for the changing light and color. There is a desire to distil the sheer (unending) variety of experience through the constant discipline of the studio.”

Jehangir Sabavala comes with almost geometric wedges out of paint that he collates to form tranquil scenes, to infuse an illusory sense of depth. His art practice draws from the modernist style with a touch of highly ingrained classical influence. Having crossed 80, he still paints with the same zest and verve.