Gulammohammed Sheikh

Gulammohammed Sheikh

Gulammohammed Sheikh born in 1937 is an artist, writer and educationist.  As a painter of more then five decades he has pioneered an engagement with historical forbears and a social and political investment in art practice. In his tenure as teacher of Art History and Professor of Painting at Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara, and through numerous visitorships, residencies and publications he has contributed to a renewed understanding of cross cultural themes in artistic pedagogy, in an Indian and international context. Sheikh taught Art History (1960-63 and 1967-81) and was Professor at the Department of Painting (1982-1993) at his Alma Mater, the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat. He has been Visiting Faculty at the Art Institute of Chicago, USA (1987 and 2002) and Visiting Fellow at Delhi University (2004). Trained at the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Vadodara and the Royal College of Art in London, he has participated in nationwide workshops and residencies and at Montalvo, California, USA, (2005), South Asia Regional Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA (2000) and Civitella Ranieri Center, Umbertide, Italy (1998).In 1996 Sheikh painted the mural Tree of Life for Vidhan Bhavan (Legislative Assembly), Bhopal.
His solo exhibitions from 1961 include Mappings, The Guild at Museum Gallery, Mumbai (2004); Palimpsest at Vadehra Gallery, New Delhi and  Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai (2001); Kahat Kabir at Vadehra Gallery, New Delhi (1998); Pathvipath at CMC Art Gallery, New Delhi (1991) and Returning Home (a retrospective of work from 1968-1985) at Centre Georges Pompidou, Musee National d’Art Moderne, Paris (1985). He was founder member of Group 1890, an artist collective established in 1963. His curatorial activities include Benodebehari Mukherjee, Centenary Retrospective, co-curated with R.Siva Kumar, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi (2006-07); New Art from India : Home, Street, Shrine, Bazaar, Museum, City Art Gallery, Manchester, UK (2002); Birth and Life of Modernity, selections from French museums, co-curated with Geeta  Kapur and Anis Farooqi, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi (1989); Retrospective exhibition: K G Subramanyan, on the occasion of award of Kalidas Samman to the artist, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal (1981); New Contemporaries for ‘Marg’ and Indian Society for Art Appreciation, Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay (1978) and Folk Arts of Gujarat, co-curated with Jyoti Bhatt and Bhupen Khakhar, Ahmedabad (1967). He convened the Coomaraswamy Centenary Seminar for the Lalit Kala Akademi in 1977.

Sheikh has been awardedhonours by the Indian state, the Padmashri by Government of India in 1983, Kalidas Samman by the Madhya Pradesh Government in 2002, Ravivarma Puraskaram by the Government of Kerala 2009,  Ravishankar Rawal Award by the Gujarat Government in 1998-99 along with the National Award, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi in 1962, Bombay Art Society (1961, 1963) and Gujarat State Lalit Kala Akademi, Ahmedabad in 1961.
The artist lives and works in Vadodara, Gujarat.