LarueVesely77 at 10:23, 7 May 2026

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{{Short description|Indian painter (1914–1985)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox artist
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1914|04|16}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1985|06|30|1914|04|16}}
| birth_place = [[Bolarum]], [[Secunderabad]]
| alma_mater = [[Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art|Sir J. J. School of Art]], [[Mumbai]]
| death_place = [[Mumbai]], [[Maharashtra]]
| notable_works = Two Jugs
| movement = [[Bombay Progressive Artists' Group|Progressive Artists' Group]]
| known_for = [[Painting]]
| image = K. H. Ara.png
}}

'''Krishnaji Howlaji Ara''' (16 April 1914 – 30 June 1985<ref name="theory.tifr">{{cite web|title=K. H. Ara|date=21 July 1997 |url=http://theory.tifr.res.in/bombay/leisure/art/kh-ara.html|accessdate=1 March 2013}}</ref>) was an Indian painter and is seen as the first contemporary Indian painter to meticulously use the female nude as a subject.<ref name="saffronart">{{cite web|title=K. Ara - Profile|url=http://www.saffronart.com/artists/k--ara|publisher=Saffronart|accessdate=1 March 2013}}</ref> He was a part of the [[Progressive Artists' Group]] in [[Bombay]] and was a founder of the Artists' Centre in [[Mumbai]]. Opinions about Ara's works remain divided with his critics accusing them of lacking perfection and not referenced from life.<ref>{{cite news|title=Nude studies central to Indian art history |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-02-20/books/37058313_1_delhi-art-gallery-indian-art-nude-form|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411034651/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-02-20/books/37058313_1_delhi-art-gallery-indian-art-nude-form|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 April 2013|accessdate=1 March 2013|newspaper=[[The Times of India]] |date=20 February 2013}}</ref> In 2017, curator Qaroon Thapar 22 works of Ara in an exhibition in Mumbai called "Privately Ara".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mid-day.com/articles/privately-ara-bombay-progressives-nudes-art-exhibition/18149155|title=Privately Ara|date=2017-04-09|website=mid-day|language=en|access-date=2019-03-15}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Ara was born in [[Bolarum]], [[Secunderabad]] in April 1914, the son of a [[chauffeur]]. His mother died when he was three and his father remarried. He ran away from home to [[Mumbai]] when he was seven. The city remained his home until his death in 1985.<ref name="saffronart" />
In Mumbai he earned a living by cleaning cars and later found employment with an English family as a [[houseboy]]. While employed he nevertheless found time to engage with his passion for painting and it soon caught the attention of first Rudy von Leyden, an [[art critic]] from the [[Times of India]], and then Walter Langhammer, the Editor of the [[Illustrated Weekly of India]]. Langhammer was so impressed by Ara's skill that had him enrolled at the [[J.J. School of Art]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Still waters run deep|url=http://www.hindu.com/fr/2005/07/15/stories/2005071501890300.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715145447/http://www.hindu.com/fr/2005/07/15/stories/2005071501890300.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 July 2007|accessdate=1 March 2013|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|date=15 July 2005}}</ref>

Ara participated in the [[Salt Satyagraha]] during the [[Civil Disobedience Movement]] and was jailed for five months. He later found employment with a Japanese firm as a car cleaner.<ref name="theory.tifr" /> Later, on India's independence he created a large canvas depicting an Independence Day procession of a multitude of Indian people in exuberant celebrations.<ref>{{cite web|title=K.H.Ara|url=http://www.indianartcircle.com/arteducation/ara.shtml|publisher=Indian Art Circle|accessdate=1 March 2013}}</ref>

== Career as an artist ==
Ara hosted his first solo show at the Chetana Restaurant in Bombay in 1942 which was a runaway success.<ref name="business-standard">{{cite news|title=The Ara conundrum|url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/the-ara-conundrum-110061600042_1.html|accessdate=1 March 2013|newspaper=Business Standard|date=16 June 2010}}</ref> He joined the Progressive Artists' Group which included [[M F Hussain]], [[H. A. Gade|H A Gade]], [[S H Raza]], [[F.N. Souza|F N Souza]] and [[Sadanand Bakre]] in 1948. The group set up the Artists' Centre at [[Kala Ghoda]], behind the [[Prince of Wales Museum]]. He held several shows with the group but with Souza, Raza, Gade and Bakre leaving India, the group became undone. From 1948 to 1955, Ara held several solo and group shows in Mumbai, [[Ahmedabad]], [[Baroda]] and [[Calcutta]] and later had solo exhibitions across [[Eastern Europe]], [[Japan]], [[Germany]] and [[Russia]]. In 1963 he exhibited his "Black Nude" series in Mumbai and was part of the inaugural show at the Pundole Art Gallery.<ref name="saffronart" /> The Kumar Gallery, [[New Delhi]] acquired his works between 1955 and 1960.<ref>{{cite web|title=K.H. Ara - Biography|url=http://artistkhara.com/|accessdate=1 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130421225850/http://artistkhara.com/|archive-date=21 April 2013|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

== Artistic style ==
Ara began his career doing [[Landscape art|landscapes]] and paintings on socio-historical themes but he is best known for his [[Still-life painting|still life]] and [[Nude (painting)|nude paintings]].<ref name="business-standard" /> Ara was the first contemporary Indian painter to focus on the female nude as a subject while staying within the limits of [[Naturalism in art|naturalism]]. Several of his works deal with still life and human figure studies. While he initially used [[watercolours]] and [[gouaches]], where his use of the [[impasto effect]] often made them resemble [[oil paintings]], he later moved on to the use of oil paints. Here his successful execution of thin [[pigmentation]] recalled his initial work with water colors as seen in the painting "Woman with Flowers".<ref>{{cite web|title=Old Masters- Krishnaji Howlaji Ara|url=http://www.indiaart.com/old-masters/Krishnaji-Ara/Info-of-Krishnaji-Ara.asp|publisher=India Art|accessdate=1 March 2013}}</ref> Ara work reflected a deep influence of French modern artists, specially Paul Cezanne.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/_AJyoAcQsJnlKA|title=K.H. Ara and the TIFR Art Collection|website=Google Arts & Culture|language=en|access-date=2019-03-15}}</ref>

== Awards ==
Ara won the Governor's Award for painting in 1944 and a Gold Medal from the [[Bombay Art Society]] for his canvas "Two Jugs" in 1952.<ref name="saffronart" /> He also won the Windsor and Newton cash price, Bombay.<ref>{{cite web|title=K.H.Ara|url=http://www.apparaoart.com/artinfo/artist.php?artist_id=237|accessdate=1 March 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130407172220/http://www.apparaoart.com/artinfo/artist.php?artist_id=237|archive-date=7 April 2013|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

== Criticism ==
Some of his critics have accused his paintings of being poorly executed and not referenced from life. The wrongly depicted [[female genitalia]] in some of his nudes have also drawn criticism with some viewers claiming that his paintings of groups of vases have greater voluptuousness than his nude forms.<ref name="business-standard" />

== Family and later life ==
Ara remained a lifelong [[bachelor]] and [[Asexuality|asexual]] as a person according to his adopted daughter Ruxana Pathan.<ref name="business-standard" /> Later in his career, Ara exhibited less and began to spend greater time at the Artists' Centre, where he often helped struggling artists from his personal funds. He lived in penury in the last decades of his life, far removed from the success he had enjoyed in the 1950s and 60s. Unlike Souza, Raza and Husain, his paintings have failed to emulate their renown or prices.<ref name="business-standard" /> Ara was part of the managing committee of the Bombay Art Society<ref name="saffronart" /> and later became a [[List of Lalit Kala Akademi fellows|Fellow of Lalit Kala Akademi]].<ref>{{cite web|title=List of Fellows |url=http://lalitkala.gov.in/list-of-fellows.html |publisher=Lalit Kala Akademi |accessdate=1 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327172429/http://lalitkala.gov.in/list-of-fellows.html |archivedate=27 March 2014 }}</ref> He died in Mumbai in 1985.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==

* [https://artsandculture.google.com/entity/k-h-ara/m0r8p5_k Profile on Google Arts & Culture]
{{Fellows of the Lalit Kala Akademi}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ara, Krishnaji Howlaji}}
[[Category:Indian male painters]]
[[Category:Sir J. J. School of Art alumni]]
[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:Artists from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Lalit Kala Akademi]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian painters]]
[[Category:Painters from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male artists]]

K. H. Ara - Revision history

LarueVesely77 at 10:23, 7 May 2026