(1914 - 1985)
Born in 1914, in Andhra Pradesh, K.H. Ara for the most part, was a self-taught artist. He was a part of the Progressive Artists' Group in Bombay and was a founder of the Artists’ Centre in Mumbai. Ara hosted his first solo show at the Chetana Restaurant in Bombay in 1942 which was a runaway success. Ara held his first solo show in 1942, at the Chetana Restaurant in Bombay. Since then he has had several other one man and group shows, including many with the Progressive Artists’ Group from 1948 to 1955 in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Baroda and Calcutta. He had three more solo exhibitions in Mumbai in 1952, 1954 and 1960, and took part in the inaugural show of the Pundole Art Gallery in 1963. In the same year, he exhibited his Black Nude series in Mumbai. In 1955, Ara held shows of his work in Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria. His paintings have also been shown in galleries in West Germany, Russia and Japan. In 1944, the artist received the Governor’s Award for Painting. He went on to win the Bombay Art Society’s Gold Medal in 1952. Some of Ara’s significant works are part of the Cowasji Jehangir Family and the Rudi von Leyden Family collections. Ara passed away in 1985.