(1928 - 1994)
Born in 1928 in Simla, Swaminathan began his academic career studying medicine, before studying art at the Delhi Polytechnic in 1956, and the Faculty of Fine Art, Warsaw, in 1958. In 1963, he founded an artists’ fraternity called ‘Group 1890’, and also founded and edited a monthly journal on art call ‘CONTRA’. A member of the International Jury for the Sao Paulo Biennale, Brazil 1968, he was also elected to the general council and executive committee of the National Academy of Art. In 1968-70 Swaminathan was awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship and was artist-in-residence at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He was one of the most influential artists of India, instrumental in the establishment of the Bharat Bhawan, a muti-art complex in Bhopal, in 1982, serving as the director of its Roopankar Art Museum till 1990. He was also a trustee of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts. His works have been included in several important shows including Saffronart and Pundole Art Gallery, New York, 2002; Festival of India, Tokyo, 1988; and Festival of India, Moscow, 1987. Swaminathan passed away in New Delhi in 1994, and was awarded the Kalidas Samman, posthumously, by the Government of Madhya Pradesh the same year.