(1926 - 2004)
Born in Mumbai in 1926, Mohan Samant graduated from the Sir J. J. School of Art in 1952, and won the gold medal of the Bombay Art Society in 1956. He worked in Italy for two years on an Italian government scholarship, before moving to New York in 1959 on a Rockefeller Foundation grant. Among his prominent solo shows were those held at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, in 2000; Birla Academy of Art, Kolkata, in 1988; Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Mumbai, in 1997; Gallery B.A.I., New York, in 1994 and 1995; Selected Artists Gallery, New York, in 1972; Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai, in 1967; Gallery Chemould, Mumbai and New Delhi, in 1966; the Taj Art Gallery, Mumbai, in 1966 and 1965; World House Galleries, New York, from 1961 to 1965; and Rome Institute of Oriental Studies, Italy, in 1958. Samant’s work features in several prestigious collections including those of the Asia Society, New York; Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh; Hirshhorn Museum at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi. The artist passed away in 2004.