Amar Nath Sehgal

Born in Campbellpur, Pakistan on 5th February 1922 to Ram Asra Mal and Parmeshwari Devi, Indian Modern artist Amar Nath Sehgal was their fourth child of the seven children. Educated in Lahore, Sehgal shifted to India after Partition in 1947. After a two-year stay in the Kullu valley, he left for New York. Sehgal learnt to appreciate art as a child, but his conventional education led him to pursue a degree in Industrial Chemistry and Physics. In 1948, he moved to New York where he pursued art at New York University.

He returned to India after three years and worked relentlessly for over a decade on the revival of folk art and theatre in  rural areas of Northern India like Nilokheri in Punjab and Jharsa in Haryana with the Ministry of Community Development.

Sehgal travelled extensively both in India and abroad. The artist’s sensitivity was quick to respond to the victims of natural calamities, wars, and poverty. The remembrance of the tragic events he had witnessed during the Partition is stamped on his works. Most of his works with their simple but highly expressive forms portraying human emotions – be it anguish, helplessness, oppression or a yearning for hope – vibrate a perceptible pathos.

Amar Nath Sehgal’s artistic versatility extends to sculptures, paintings, poetry, graphics and tapestries. His works can be found in public and private collections all over the world like the Musée d’art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the 20th Century Museum of Vienna and Berlin, the Israel Museum, the National Gallery of Modern Art and the White House among others.