S. M. Pandit Biography 
S. M. Pandit was a great painter of 20th century. He lived during the period 25 March 1916 – 30 March 1993. His full name is Sambanand Monappa Pandit and he was a native of Karnataka state. He was a student of Shankar Rao Alandkar from Sir. J. J. School of Arts and famous artist M. V. Dhurandhar served as Principal. He has also done many portraits of celebrities apart from poster paintings for movies and cover pages of magazines. Pandit set up his own studio called Studio S. M. Pandit in Mumbai in 1944. Pandit designed the posters of many films such as Barsaat, Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani etc.
He was influenced by the works of Raja Ravi Varma and M. V. Dhurandhar. In true sense he inherited “realistic" style of painting from Raja Ravi Varma. He took a further step by introducing the new forms of religious and mythic imagery, a process started by Ravi Varma earlier. His works on mythological and religious subjects are just fabulous and extra ordinary. The life size portrait of Swami Vivekananda at Kanyakumari is regarded as his masterpiece. He has also done portraits of many leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, whose portrait is now placed at New Council Hall, Mumbai. He also did the portraits of Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher.
He was born on 25 March 1916 in Gulbarga district of Karnataka state into a poor family. He learnt the art of painting from Sir. J. J. School of Arts followed by Madras School of Art and Nootan Kala Mandir in Mumbai. M. V. Dhurandhar, who was known for subjecting Hindu mythological characters similar to Ravi Varma, inspired young Pandit too. Dhurandhar served as the principal of Sir. J. J. School of Arts. Later Pandit too carried forward the tradition. His teacher Shankar Rao Alandkar financially helped him for his advanced studies in Mumbai. Pandit started painting mythological subjects in the 1950s, and very soon became a popular figure of this form of art.
Published: N/A
Updated: April 03, 2016
