Srimati Lal Biography 
Srimati Lal is a noted artist and writer. She is also an art critic, art authenticator and curator, who conducts art exhibitions across India and abroad. She is the daughter of acclaimed writer and translator, Purushottama Lal. Her brother Ananda Lal is an academic and theatre critic. She is a writer of English books, and she has published three collection of poems, titled - The Window, Six Poems and The Warriors: I Guerrieri, and non-fiction work on art, Culture, Society and Development in India, followed by Flowers For My Father: Tributes to P. Lal.
Her full name is Srimati Priyadarshini Lal, and she was born in Kolkata, West Bengal. She is half-Bengali and half-Punjabi. Her father Purushottama Lal was a famous writer and founder of Writers Workshop, one of India's oldest creative writing publishers, established in 1958. After early education from Kolkata, she moved to US where she worked on the project, 'The Film Vision of Satyajit Ray'. She has also conducted media interviews with cultural figures like Satyajit Ray and Vikram Seth. She studied Fine Art and Film as a Narrative Form in USA.
Srimati is an authenticator and authority on Indian Contemporary Art. The New York-based Lal's style is known as Nave Art. She also worked in black and white colours earlier. Famous artist Francis Newton Souza was her mentor and partner. He was one of the founder-members of the Progressive Artists' Group. In 2012 she made an exhibition titled Benedictions, at The Galaxy Beanstalk Caf in Gurgaon as a true tribute to him. The collection featured self-portraits, still-life paintings and a tribute to Souza where she captures him painting his muse. She was his companion during his last years.
Srimati is also known for her efforts of preserving old traditions and arts in the form of detailed visual and textual documentations. Since 1980s, she has published countless columns in different publications on contemporary art.
Published: September 19, 2018
Updated: September 19, 2018
