Prof Sukhvir Sanghal, an emminent artist from Bengal School of Art

To a true artist only that face is beautiful which, quite apart from its exterior, shines with the truth within the soul.

- Mahatma Gandhi

Paintings are like a mirror of soul.One such notable artist who painted his soul was Prof Sukhvir Sanghal(1914-2006), who was influenced by Bengal School, was a student of a very significant artist Asit Kumar Haldar and he was also the professor and principal of Lucknow School of Arts.

Works of Prof Sukhvir Sanghal have remained hidden from the world for a long time, due to unforeseen circumstances but now an official website www.sukhvirsanghal.com has been launched by his granddaughter to showcase his magnificent works to the world, which would be a treat to the eyes for any art lover in the world.

Prof Sukhvir Sanghal , is one of the best Indian Painters of outstanding merit who revolutionized the technique of wash painting.He was the first artist who Indianized the Chinese and Japanese technique of painting on the basis of Rasa Siddhanta. He has been highly appreciated for his works amongst people and notable personalities. Sanghal has more than 200 beautiful paintings on various mediums such as Paper, Wood, Canvas, Silk, Stone, Silver, Leather etc.

Title - Arjuna as True Lover 'Arjuna Series'

Medium - Watercolour, Wash Technique on Paper

Artist - Sukhvir Sanghal

Size - 77cm X 54cm

Screenshot of the Website launched www.sukhvirsanghal.com 

The paintings of Sukhvir Sanghal are not traditional like that of Raja Ravi Verma and modern like that of M.F. Hussain.But his works have a strain of traditional art which he recreated in his own way. Sanghal used wash style on paper using transparent colours. He believed that his art was a work of God thus, he never seeked limelight or media hype as that would deviate his focus from his paintings.

His works are difficult to learn in today's time as we live in an era of 'instant' and his paintings require complete devotion and concentration.Each of his paintings took more than a year to complete and these days students generally lack this patience.Nowadays, in this fast world quantity of work done is given more weightage than quality of work done.Wash Paintings of Sukhvir Sanghal are a manifestation of emotions, based on Indian culture and philosophy.His paintings are imaginative yet real, based on philosophy of Life, something everyone can relate with.

Paintings of Singhal , have meticulous details and every expression and colour have a specific purpose sans abstraction are a major highlight.Every painting has a story with an attached philosophy to it.The paintings of Sukhvir Sanghal have added a refreshingly different perspective in the era of modern art.Sanghal painted  his expressions in the form of series like 'Marriage Series','Arjuna Series','Phases of Life Series', 'Man Series','River of Life Series' etc .Each series have a set of paintings with the related theme.

Title - Broken Reflections
Medium - Watercolour on Paper
Artist - Sukhvir Sanghal
1949

Title - Dream of a Bethroted Virgin, 'Marriage Series'
Medium - Watercolour, Wash Technique on Paper
Artist - Sukhvir Sanghal
Size - 55cm X 44cm

Marriage Series represents the various traditions and rituals that happen in traditional hindu wedding, some of which are prevalent even today.More than 10 paintings have been dedicated to this series , each one representing the stages of wedding gracefully. 'Dream of a Bethroted Virgin' by Sukhvir Sanghal is a wash technique painting and is the first painting of marriage series where a woman in pensive mood is deeply contemplating about her future husband.She wishes her lover to be handsome, morally upright like the diya ( or the lamp ), intellectual as the book he is holding in his hand and pure and holy like the Lotus flower.

Title - Arjuna as concentrated Archer, 'Arjuna Series'
Medium - Watercolour, Wash Technique on Paper
Artist - Sukhvir Sanghal
Size - 56cm X 77cm

'Arjuna as Concentrated Archer' is a prominent painting from 'Arjuna series' by Sukhvir Sanghal which is a wash technique painting ,which has its own uniqueness contrary to wash technique of Bengal school of Art.Arjuna is a significant character of Hindu epic 'Mahabharata'.Arjuna was considered as one of the greatest warriors and intellectual of those times and also happened to be the most preferred student of Guru Dronacharya.The painting depicts the ability of Arjuna to focus on the goal(Bird's eye) such that all the distraction was diffused.Also, this painting has a deep spiritual meaning which I would elucidate in some other article.

Article about Prof Sukhvir Sanghal
The Economic Times, Sunday 25 ,1972

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