S G Thakur Singh
Encyclopedia
S.G. Thakur Singh is an Indian artist who painted in oils, pastels and water color
, Punjab, India. He received some art training from Mohammed Alam the Muslim school teacher in the village.
Interviewed at the age of 74, Singh tells us that when he was seventeen, “I was forced by my guardians to join the Victoria Diamond Hindu Technical Institute, Lahore, to take up an engineering course. I wasted there two years and left it in disgust.” When he returned to his village his former teacher, Mohammed Alam, persuaded him to come to Bombay (Mumbai), where Alam had secured a job as a scene-painter in a Bombay theatre. While in Bombay, Singh worked both at odd jobs in the studio and on his own, with Alam guiding him.
“One fine morning”, Singh recalls, “I was busy painting a landscape at Chowpati Beach (Mumbai) when a couple suddenly stopped beside me and began admiring my painting which was, by that time, almost complete. The gentlemen, an influential Parsi editor of a Bombay Magazine, goaded me into sending the painting to an exhibition of the Simla Fine Arts Society. There his painting won the first prize of Rs. 500, among the landscapes. “I was then only eighteen, and you can well imagine my joy and pride at getting the prize”.
Just as that chance encounter on Chowpati Beach led to his first prize in the painting; throughout his life he won and retained the friendship of many worthy patrons.
Rabindra Nath Tagore
, Dr. Rajendra Prasad
and artists and critics have paid tribute to his work.
He organized an Art Academy in Amritsar.Indian Academy of Fine Arts He founded the Thakur Singh School of Art at Amritsar. Several of its past students are now achieving recognition as artists or as art-teachers and it has been lately recognized by the Industrial Training Department of the Punjab Government to award a diploma of Art & Craft, teacher's course.
He painted in oils, pastels and water color
. He painted nearly ten thousand paintings, and has won many awards. His paintings hang in museums, public buildings and in private collections around the world.
India honoured him in other ways too. He was nominated to the First Punjab Legislative Council in 1952. He was on the Executive Board of the National Academy of Art (Lalit Kala Akademy) and was Chairman of the Decoration Sub Committee at the 61st Session of the Indian National Congress
held at Amritsar in 1956. He was invited to the former U.S.S.R. and Hungary for one man show
s in Moscow, Leningrad and Budapest.
He was commissioned to do many portraits, but it is his landscapes which have won for him popular acclaim.
He received award of Padma Shri in 1973.
Water color
Water color may refer to:* Watercolor painting, a painting method* Color of water, a measure of water quality as well as a physical property of water* Water Colors , the first album by Japanese song writer Ayako Ikeda...
Childhood
He was born in the tiny farm village of Verka, four miles Northeast of AmritsarAmritsar
Amritsar is a city in the northern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering 3,695,077...
, Punjab, India. He received some art training from Mohammed Alam the Muslim school teacher in the village.
Interviewed at the age of 74, Singh tells us that when he was seventeen, “I was forced by my guardians to join the Victoria Diamond Hindu Technical Institute, Lahore, to take up an engineering course. I wasted there two years and left it in disgust.” When he returned to his village his former teacher, Mohammed Alam, persuaded him to come to Bombay (Mumbai), where Alam had secured a job as a scene-painter in a Bombay theatre. While in Bombay, Singh worked both at odd jobs in the studio and on his own, with Alam guiding him.
“One fine morning”, Singh recalls, “I was busy painting a landscape at Chowpati Beach (Mumbai) when a couple suddenly stopped beside me and began admiring my painting which was, by that time, almost complete. The gentlemen, an influential Parsi editor of a Bombay Magazine, goaded me into sending the painting to an exhibition of the Simla Fine Arts Society. There his painting won the first prize of Rs. 500, among the landscapes. “I was then only eighteen, and you can well imagine my joy and pride at getting the prize”.
Just as that chance encounter on Chowpati Beach led to his first prize in the painting; throughout his life he won and retained the friendship of many worthy patrons.
Rabindra Nath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
, Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Rajendra Prasad
Dr. Rajendra Prasad was an Indian politician and educator. He was one of the architects of the Indian Republic, having drafted its first constitution and serving as the first president of independent India...
and artists and critics have paid tribute to his work.
Later career
From Bombay he moved to Calcutta and it was here that S.G. Thakur Singh realized that he must raise the artistic level of the Punjab. Accordingly, with the co-operation of friends, he organized THE Punjab Fine Arts Society in Calcutta and the Society’s first Exhibition was held in 1926.He organized an Art Academy in Amritsar.Indian Academy of Fine Arts He founded the Thakur Singh School of Art at Amritsar. Several of its past students are now achieving recognition as artists or as art-teachers and it has been lately recognized by the Industrial Training Department of the Punjab Government to award a diploma of Art & Craft, teacher's course.
He painted in oils, pastels and water color
Water color
Water color may refer to:* Watercolor painting, a painting method* Color of water, a measure of water quality as well as a physical property of water* Water Colors , the first album by Japanese song writer Ayako Ikeda...
. He painted nearly ten thousand paintings, and has won many awards. His paintings hang in museums, public buildings and in private collections around the world.
India honoured him in other ways too. He was nominated to the First Punjab Legislative Council in 1952. He was on the Executive Board of the National Academy of Art (Lalit Kala Akademy) and was Chairman of the Decoration Sub Committee at the 61st Session of the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
held at Amritsar in 1956. He was invited to the former U.S.S.R. and Hungary for one man show
One man show
The term one-man show often referred to comedian, who would stand on stage and entertain an audience. With the advent of feminism, words and phrases such as one-woman show and comedienne have entered the modern-day lexicon....
s in Moscow, Leningrad and Budapest.
He was commissioned to do many portraits, but it is his landscapes which have won for him popular acclaim.
He received award of Padma Shri in 1973.