Akkitham Narayanan Biography 
Akkitham Narayanan is an Indian artist and painter from Kerala, now based in Paris. He is a recipient of numerous prestigious awards including Tamil Nadu State Lalit Kala Akademi Award, Raja Ravi Varma Award of the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi and the Cagnes-sur-Mer International Festival of Painting Award. His elder brother Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri is a very famous writer and poet of Malayalam modern literature, who has been most recently honoured with highest literary honour Jnanpith award in 2019. Narayan has displayed his paintings across the globe in art exhibitions and galleries conducted in France, Japan, Poland and Germany, and many other countries.
Akkitham Narayanan was born in Kuttanellur, Palakkad in 1939 into a Kerala Brahmin family. Amettikkara is his native village. He completed diploma in arts from Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai in 1961, and continued his studies for next three years with the scholarship given by government of India. In association with his teachers, D. P. Roy Choudhury, the then principal and K. C. S. Paniker, he founded Cholamandal Artists' Village in 1966. Both these artists are considered leading figures in Chennai art movement.
For a brief period, he worked as a teacher of batik painting at Ethiraj College for Women, after which he moved to Paris to study at École des Beaux-Arts with the help of a government scholarship. He completed his studies in year 1970 and got settled there. While at France, he studied monumental art under Jean Bertholle and engraving under Lucien Couteau. His first exhibition was held in year 1965 Max Muller Bhavan, Chennai, followed by Triveni Art Gallery, New Delhi next year. His first exhibition outside India was held in Paris in 1970, where he completed his higher studies in art and painting.
Published: January 05, 2020
Updated: January 05, 2020
