(1919 - 2000)
Born in Chennai in 1919, S. Dhanapal initially trained in painting at the Government College of Art and Crafts there. In 1941 he joined the institution as a faculty member, and in 1957 was appointed the head of its sculpture department. He has exhibited his work in Germany and England in the 1950s and 60s, and subsequently held several other shows of his drawings, paintings and sculptures in India and abroad. In 1966, along with K.C.S. Paniker, Dhanapal established the Cholamandal Artists’ Village outside Madras. In 1977 he retired as principal from the Government College of Art and Crafts, and in 1980 he won two fellowships from the Tamil Nadu Lalit Kala Akademi and the Department of Culture of the Government of India. S. Dhanapal passed away in 2000.