K. G. Subramanyan
Kalpathi Ganpathi "K.G." Subramanyan (5 February 1924 – 29 June 2016) was an Indian artist. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2012.
Subramanyan was born in Tamil Brahmin family on 5th February, 1924 in Kuthuparamba in Kerala, India, and initially studied economics at Presidency College, Madras.During the freedom struggle he was actively involved and was known for his Gandhian ideology. He was even imprisoned and later banned from joining government colleges during the British Rule. The turning point of his life, as an artist, came when he visited Santiniketan to study in Kala Bhavan, the art faculty of Visva Bharati University, in the year 1944. Under the tutelage of such pioneers of modern Indian art as Nandalal Bose, Benode Behari Mukherjee and Ramkinkar Baij, Subramanyan studied there. In 1980, Subramanyan went back to Santiniketan to teach in his alma mater Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharati University, in his capacity as a professor in painting, which he continued till he retired in 1989. In the same year, he was made a Professor Emeritus of Visva Bharati.
K.G. Subramanyan was greatly influenced by folk art from Kerala, Kalighat painting and Pattachitra from Bengal and Odisha, as well as Indian court paintings.
