K. H. Ara

Krishnaji Howlaji Ara (April 16, 1914 – June 30, 1985) was an Indian painter and is seen as the first contemporary Indian painter to meticulously use the female nude as a subject. He was a part of the Progressive Artists' Group in Bombay and was a founder of the Artists’ Centre in Mumbai. Opinions about Ara’s works remain divided with his critics accusing them of lacking perfection and not referenced from life.

Ara was born in Bolarum, Secunderabad in April 1914, the son of a chauffeur. His mother died when he was three and his father remarried. He ran away from home to Mumbai when he was seven. The city remained his home until his death in 1985.

In Mumbai he earned a living by cleaning cars and later found employment with an English family as a houseboy. While employed he nevertheless found time to engage with his passion for painting and it soon caught the attention of first Rudy von Leyden, an art critic from the Times of India, and then Walter Langhammer, the Editor of the Illustrated Weekly of India. Langhammer was so impressed by Ara’s skill that had him enrolled at the J.J. School of Art.

Ara participated in the Salt Satyagraha during the Civil Disobedience Movement and was jailed for five months. He later found employment with a Japanese firm as a car cleaner. Later, on India's independence he created a large canvas depicting an Independence Day procession of a multitude of Indian people in exuberant celebrations.

Ara hosted his first solo show at the Chetana Restaurant in Bombay in 1942 which was a runaway success. He joined the Progressive Artists' Group which included M F Hussain, H A Gade, S H Raza, F N Souza and Sadanand Bakre in 1948. The group set up the Artists' Centre at Kala Ghoda, opposite the Prince of Wales Museum. He held several shows with the group but with Souza, Raza, Gade and Bakre leaving India, the group became undone. From 1948 to 1955, Ara held several solo and group shows in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Baroda and Calcutta and later had solo exhibitions across Eastern Europe, Japan, Germany and Russia. In 1963 he exhibited his 'Black Nude' series in Mumbai and was part of the inaugural show at the Pundole Art Gallery. The Kumar Gallery, New Delhi acquired his works between 1955 and 1960.

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