Sankho Chaudhuri Biography 
Sankho Chaudhuri was an Indian sculptor and artist from Bengal, who lived during the period, 25 February 1916 – 28 August 2006. He was best known by his pet name, Sankho. He was a student of Ram Kinker Baij, one of the pioneers of modern Indian sculpture and a key figure of Contextual Modernism. Sankho Chaudhuri began close to cubism and later worked in a wide range of media, and has produced both large-scale reliefs and mobiles. He served as the Chairman of Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi in the late 1980s, and also as the first Honorary Joint Secretary of Indian Sculptors Association, Mumbai. He was a recipient of Padma Shri in 1971.
Sankho Chaudhuri was born on 25 February 1916 in Bengal. He was earlier named Naranarai. His brother Sachin Chaudhuri was a well-known journalist, and the founder-editor of the Economic and Political Weekly. His brother-in-law (sister’s husband) was Manish Ghatak, a noted writer from Berhampore whose name is associated with Kallol era of modern Bengali literature. Manish Ghatak’s brother was a very famous Bengali film director, whose name is always taken aside Bengali filmmakers Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen. Sankho Chaudhuri is the uncle of Jnanapith Awardee Mahasweta Devi (Manish Ghatak’s daughter), and great-uncle of Nabarun Bhattacharya.
Sankho did his art graduation from Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan in 1939 and later served as faculty of arts for many years. He also represented India at many art conferences including UNESCO. Government of India honored him with Padma Shri in 1971, for his contributions towards arts and sculpture. He also received fellowship from Lalita Kala Academy Delhi twice. He also received doctorate from Centro Escolar University, Philippines in 1974 and many more honours during his lifetime. A retrospective of his works was conducted at the NGMA in 1997. He passed away in 2006.
Published: N/A
Updated: June 08, 2018
