Sudhir Khastgir Biography 
Sudhir Khastgir was an Indian painter of Bengal school of art. He was also an art teacher by profession, who taught numerous students at Doon School and other educational institutions. His name is always taken with the group of Indian artists associated with Bengal school of art and Modern Indian Art movements in the 20th century. Renowned artists Abanindranath Tagore and Nandalal Bose were his gurus, and Sudhir left behind an impact in Indian art through his Indian style of painting. He was a student of Visva-Bharati University at Santiniketan in the late 1920s.
Sudhir Khastgir was born on 24 September 1907. Sudhir was born in Chittagong, East Bengal, now a part of Bangladesh. During his childhood he moved to Kolkata where he completed his schooling. He graduated in art subjects from the Visva-Bharati University at Santiniketan in 1929, where he got opportunity to learn painting from some of the renowned artists of the period. On a scholarship, he got opportunity to study at Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. When Doon School was opened, he joined as a faculty of arts in the school and taught sculpture and photography. He was associated with the school for the next two decades.
He also directed some dance-dramas based on the works of Tagore during his stay here. Padma Shri recipient and the longest serving press photojournalist, Virendra Prabhakar was his student at Doon School. Virendra was drawn towards this art, after he got influenced with his guru who taught him sculpture and photography.
In 1956 he was invited to Lucknow College of Arts and Crafts, Lucknow as the organization head which he accepted. For his contributions towards the field of Indian art, government of India honoured him with Padma Shri in 1957. Famous Indian writer Amit Chaudhuri is married to his grandniece.
Published: January 10, 2019
Updated: January 10, 2019
