(1938 - 2008)
Born in 1938, in Tamil Nadu, K. M. Adimoolam had a natural aptitude for drawing at a very early age. In 1959, he moved to Chennai where under the influence of the sculptor Dhanapal, he enrolled in the School of Arts and Crafts. After completing his Diploma in Advanced Painting in 1966, Adimoolam started a series of black and white portraits of Mahatma Gandhi. Sketching from photographs of the great man, he finished nearly a hundred drawings that moved over 60 years of the Mahatma’s life. The artist, who has been commissioned by many well-known corporate houses, has been associated with the Modern Tamil Writer's Group since the mid-Sixties and has done a number of illustrations, book covers, and layouts. A recipient of prestigious awards from Lalit Kala Akademi, in Chennai; Chitrakala Parishat, in Bangalore; Bombay Art Society, Hyderabad Art Society, Academy of Fine Arts, in Kolkata. Besides the National Award from Lalit Kala Akademi in New Delhi, Adimoolam has served as a jury member for the National Exhibition of Art, New Delhi, and Bombay Art Society's Annual All India Art Exhibition. He was the Commissioner for the Indian section in the Third Ankara Biennial at Turkey in 1990. Adimoolam died on January 15, 2008 in Chennai.