Dashrath Patel (1927 – 1 December 2010) was an Indian designer, sculptor, and was one of the first teachers at the
National Institute of Design
The National Institutes of Design (NIDs) are a group of autonomous public design universities in India, with the primary institute, founded in 1961, in Ahmedabad, with extension campuses in Gandhinagar and Bengaluru. The other NIDs are locat ...
(NID),
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...
, from 1961 to 1981.
[
He was awarded the ]Padma Shri
Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...
by Government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
in 1981, followed by the Padma Bhushan
The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...
, posthumously in 2011.
Early life and education
Born in 1927 in Sojitra
Sojitra is a village in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is in the Anand district
Anand District is an administrative district of Gujarat state in western India and whose popular nickname is Charotar. It was carved out of the Kheda dist ...
, Gujarat, Patel studied fine arts at Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai
The Government College of Fine Arts (initially known as the Madras School of Art) in Chennai is the oldest art institution in India. The institution was established in 1850 by surgeon Alexander Hunter as a private art school. In 1852, after be ...
(1949–53), where Debi Prasad Roy Choudhury was his mentor; thereafter studied painting, sculpture and ceramics during his Post Graduate studies at École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...
, Paris (1953–1955).[
]
Career
He practiced in diverse art fields as a painter, ceramist, a graphic designer, industrial design and exhibition design. Early in his career he was contemporary of Tyeb Mehta
Tyeb Mehta (26 July 1925 – 2 July 2009) was an Indian painter, sculptor and film maker. He was part of the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group and the first post-colonial generation of artists in India, like John Wilkins who also broke free ...
, M.F. Hussain
Maqbool Fida Husain (17 September 1915 – 9 June 2011) was an Indian artist known for executing bold, vibrantly coloured narrative paintings in a modified Cubism, Cubist style. He was one of the most celebrated and internationally recogni ...
and V. S. Gaitonde
Vasudeo S. Gaitonde (1924 – 10 August 2001), also known as V. S. Gaitonde, was regarded as one of India's foremost abstract painters. He received the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1971.
Early life and education
Gaitonde was born ...
who were together in the 1950s in Bhulabhai Desai Institute, Mumbai, and often exhibited alongside them. Later Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson (; 22 August 1908 – 3 August 2004) was a French humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 35mm film. He pioneered the genre of street photography, and viewed photography as cap ...
introduced him to photography, after former visited his exhibition at the Galerie Barbizon, Paris.[ He worked at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad as a designer and as faculty in Industrial Design, he also established the ceramics department at the institute.] He left NID in 1981, and went on to establish the Rural Design School in Sewapuri, near Varanasi
Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.
*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic t ...
.
He has collaborated creatives like Charles Eames
Charles Ormond Eames Jr. (June 17, 1907 – August 21, 1978) was an American designer, architect and filmmaker. In professional partnership with his spouse Ray Kaiser Eames, he was responsible for groundbreaking contributions in the field of a ...
, Louis I. Kahn
Louis Isadore Kahn (born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky; – March 17, 1974) was an Estonian-born American architect based in Philadelphia. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935. Whi ...
, Frei Otto
Frei Paul Otto (; 31 May 1925 – 9 March 2015) was a German architect and structural engineer noted for his use of lightweight structures, in particular tensile and membrane structures, including the roof of the Olympic Stadium in Munich for ...
, Harindranath Chattopadhyay
Harindranath Chattopadhyay (2 April 1898 – 23 June 1990) was an Indian English poet, dramatist, actor, musician and a member of the 1st Lok Sabha from Vijayawada constituency. He was the younger brother of Sarojini Naidu ...
, dancer Chandralekha.
He died in Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...
after a brief illness, at the age of 83 on 1 December 2010.
During the last decade of his life, he worked largely from Alibag, near Mumbai, where the Dashrath Patel Museum now houses his multidisciplinary oeuvre.
See also
* Chandralekha (dancer)
Chandralekha Prabhudas Patel (6 December 1928 – 30 December 2006), commonly known as Chandralekha, was a dancer and choreographer from India. The niece of Vallabhbhai Patel, India's first deputy Prime Minister, she was an exponent of performa ...
* National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
The National Institute of Design (NID) is a Public university, public design university in Paldi, Ahmedabad, with extension campuses in Gandhinagar and Bengaluru. Regarded as one of the foremost design schools in Asia as surveyed by ''Bloomberg ...
References
External links
"Dashrath Patel Profile,Interview and Artworks"
Dashrath Patel Museum, website
Works by Dashrath Patel
National Institute of Design
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patel, Dashrath
20th-century Indian designers
1927 births
2010 deaths
Artists from Ahmedabad
Gujarati people
Indian male sculptors
Indian ceramists
Indian graphic designers
Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts
Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts
École des Beaux-Arts alumni
Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai alumni
20th-century Indian sculptors
20th-century Indian male artists
Academic staff of National Institute of Design
Designers at National Institute of Design
Experiments in Art and Technology collaborating artists