SAKTI BURMAN (b. 1933, Calcutta, India) 

Transcultural Modernist Bridging India and Europe

Born in Calcutta, Sakti Burman studied at the city’s Government College of Arts and Crafts, and later at École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris.

Pointillism and a marbling effect are unique characteristics of Burman’s art. He discovered marbling accidentally when water spilled on an oil canvas caused a filigreed dispersal of oil, an effect he has been painstakingly recreating ever since. Incredibly, he brought the same effect to his prints, made in his initial years, achieving the marbling on the surface of the medium—stone or wood or metal—through a labourious technical process in close collaboration with his printmakers, incidentally, also employed by Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall. In 1958, exposure to Italian Renaissance frescos by Giotto, Piero della Francesca and Simone Martini inspired Burman to incorporate the monumentality and texture of their works in his oeuvre.

India continues to inhabit his work in the form of characters and episodes from mythology or popular culture, often alluding to Ajanta cave paintings. Birds and animals, dream imagery and mythological figures such as Shiva’s son Kartikeya, referenced as the peacock-riding man, are frequent occurrences, making his work appear surrealist. For a long time now, he has foregrounded the figurative, which had receded from the art scenario in recent decades.

Burman is married to French artist Maite Deiteil and spends his time between his homes and studios in Paris and New Delhi.

EDUCATION

1951-1956 | Government College of Art and Craft, Kolkata  

1956 | École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris (French Government Scholarship)

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2021 Of Gods and Men, Art Musings, Mumbai  

2017  In the Presence of Another Sky (Retrospective), NGMA, Mumbai (curated by Ranjit Hoskote)  

2016 The Beholder’s Share, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai  

2015 A Private Universe, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi  

2012 The Wonder of It All (Five-city tour), India  

2008 Now and Then, UNESCO, Paris  

1998 Salon d’Automne, Paris  

1997 Cloitre de la Dame Blanche, La Rochelle  

1995 Wakayama & Sapporo Visual Art Centre, Japan  

1988 Homage to Tagore, Paris  

1984 Galerie d’Art de la Place Beauvau, Paris  

1970 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai  

1961 Piccadilly Gallery, London  

1958 Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Paris  

SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS & BIENNALES

2019 If on a Winter’s Night…, Art Musings, Mumbai  

2014 The Nude in Indian Art, NGMA, Mumbai  

2011 Goddess, Lion…, Museum Oglethorpe, USA  

2005 Paris-Pondicherry, Musée Guimet, Paris  

1997 Exhibited with Picasso/Chagall, Japan & London  

1982 V International Triennale, New Delhi  

1977 São Paulo Art Biennial  

1969  Paris Biennale  

SALON PARTICIPATIONS

Biennale de Paris | Salon d’Automne | Salon de la Jeune Peinture | Salon des Artistes Français (Grand Palais)

 SELECT COLLECTIONS

• British Museum, London  

• National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi  

• Musée de la Ville, Paris  

• Punjab Museum, Chandigarh  

• Bibliothèque Nationale, France  

MAJOR PUBLICATIONS

• In the Presence of Another Sky ( Ranjit Hoskote, 2017)  

• A Private Universe (Skira, 2014)  

• The Wonders of It All (2012)  

• Monograph (Imprimerie de Blayac, 1984)  

AWARDS & HONORS

2016 | Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (France)  

Médaille d’Or | Salon des Artistes Français  

Prix des Etrangers | École des Beaux-Arts  

CURRENT PROJECT

Catalogue Raisonné in Progress  

Collectors are invited to submit works for documentation: [contact information]