Sudhir Patwardhan

Sudhir Patwardhan is known for his sensitive depictions of common people and complexly constructed cityscapes. He was born in 1949 in Pune. He graduated in medicine in 1973 and moved to Mumbai the same year. The city of Mumbai and its surroundings have been a continuing source of inspiration for the artist. He practised as a radiologist at Thane from 1975 to 2005, and continues to live and work there. His first solo exhibition was held in 1979. Since then, his work has been seen regularly in exhibitions in India and abroad.

Patwardhan’s select participation in exhibitions and museums include the The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975–1998, Barbican Centre, London, 2024; Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014–2015; Seven Decades of Indian Drawing at IGNCA New Delhi; Social Fabric at INIVA, London, 2012, ifa Galerie Stuttgart, Germany, 2013; and Modernist Art from India, Rubin Museum, New York, 2012; Gateway Bombay, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, 2007 and more. In 1982, he was one of six artists in the show Place for People, a landmark show in Indian Art which initiated a new concern with social issues in art.

His recent solo exhibitions include: Cities: Built, Broken, Vadehra Art Gallery at Frieze No. 9, Cork Street, London, 2024; Portraits of an Existential Artist, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, 2022; Walking Through Soul City, Sudhir Patwardhan: A Retrospective, curated by Nancy Adajania at NGMA, Mumbai, supported by The Guild; Hamsafar, Roopankar Museum, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal, 2018; Spectres at Mumbai and Vadehra Art Gallery, Delhi, 2017; Route Maps, The Guild, Mumbai, 2012; Family Fiction, 2011, and Citing the City, 2008 at Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai.

Patwardhan’s works are in the permanent collection of National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi and Mumbai; Roopankar Museum, Bhopal, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi; Gateway Bombay, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, USA and other public collections.

‍