Jagdish Swaminathan Biography 
Jagdish Swaminathan was a leading Indian artist, painter, poet and writer. He is also known by the name J. Swaminathan who has been instrumental in the establishment of the Bharat Bhawan, a muti-art complex in Bhopal, in 1982. He served as the director of its Roopankar art Museum till 1990. He is also known as the discoverer of Jangarh Singh Shyam, the first known modern Gond tribal artist of Madhya Pradesh. He was one of the key figures of the Delhi art world of the 20th century. He was also a member of the Communist Party of India.
Jagdish Swaminathan was born in Shimla on 21 June 1928. He was brought up in Delhi where he completed his schooling. Later he joined a pre-medical course, but ran away from home to do odd jobs at Kolkata. But later he returned to Delhi and joined the Congress Socialist Party. He also served as editor and sub-editor of a couple of Hindi magazines. He was an editor of Mazdoor Awaz magazine which led to his join in Communist party of India. In between, he started evening classes at the Delhi Polytechnic, Kashmere Gate. During this time, he was trained under artists Sailoz Mukherjee and Bhabesh Chandra Sanyal. But he discontinued studies very soon due to overwork at day time and night.
In 1957, he joined the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and returned to India in 1960. Thereupon he started his career as an artist and held his first major exhibition, displaying his graphic prints and oil paintings. He left his career as a journalist and dedicated his full time to the world of art. He was one of the co-founders of artists group "Group-1890" founded in Bhavnagar, Gujarat. He passed away in the year 1994.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 08, 2014
