John Wilkins (20 June 1927 at

Kolar Gold Fields Kolar Gold Fields (K.G.F.) is a mining region in K.G.F. taluk (township), Kolar district, Karnataka, India. It is headquartered in Robertsonpet, where employees of Bharat Gold Mines Limited (BGML) and BEML Limited (formerly Bharat Earth Move ...

– 1991) was an Indian painter.

Biography

Wilkins was one of the leading painters from India which include

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 ...

S.H. Raza Sayed Haider Raza (22 February 1922 – 23 July 2016) was an Indian painter who lived and worked in France from 1950 until his death, while maintaining strong ties with India. He was born in Kakkaiya (District Mandla), Central Provinces, British ...

M.F. Husain Maqbool Fida Husain (17 September 1915 – 9 June 2011) was an Indian artist known for executing bold, vibrantly coloured narrative paintings in a modified Cubist style. He was one of the most celebrated and internationally recognised Ind ...

Francis Newton Souza Francis Newton Souza (12 April 1924 – 28 March 2002) was an Indian-American British Asian artist. He was a founding member of the Progressive Artists' Group of Bombay. Souza's style exhibited both decadence and primitivism. Early life and e ...

Akbar Padamsee Akbar Padamsee (12 April 1928 – 6 January 2020) was an Indian artist and painter, considered one of the pioneers in modern Indian painting along with S.H. Raza, F.N. Souza and M.F. Husain. Over the years he also worked with various mediums ...

Manjit Bawa Manjit Bawa (1941 – 29 December 2008), born in Dhuri, Punjab, India, was an Indian painter. Biography Bawa was born in 1941 in Dhuri, British India. His elder brothers encouraged him to pursue art. He studied fine arts at the College of Ar ...

and many more greats. His talent expressed itself in his works, in many styles, mediums and techniques – brush, sketch, commercial, fine art and portrait painting. He has been commissioned by corporations and individuals for visual designs, paintings, portraits and illustrations. In the International art scenario his works are now in the category of the most expensive paintings in the world. He started his career by painting billboards and then went on to be Art Director with different advertising agencies and then quit his work to concentrate on his painting. His works are now one among India’s most expensive paintings. Masseur

His family life though was very turbulent. Married to his art, he hated to be disturbed at his work. While working for the Advertising Agency - Graphic Arts Industries in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

he even broke the nose of an executive who disturbed his work. In the late 1970s he left home and a large family to work at his art as a recluse in Coimbatore and later in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

. Most of his paintings are held by private collectors, a few corporates and also Government Departments like the

British High Commission A British High Commission is a British diplomatic mission, equivalent to an embassy, found in countries that are members of the Commonwealth of Nations. Their general purpose is to provide diplomatic relationships as well as travel information, ...

and the

Singapore High Commission Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. Not one to be too bothered by art accolades, he had very few exhibitions of his work, the last in

in 1982. In February 2010 an offer of $2.5 million for one of his paintings by a member of one of the Royal families from the Middle East was refused by an art collector in India.Most expensive Indian paintings
/ref> Some of his paintings are unsigned and some not completed, lost in some random mood swing, but whatever little paint touched the canvas reveals his genius. He died in 1991 in

Trichy, Tamil Nadu Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bei ...

and was buried there at St. Christopher's Church.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkins, John 1927 births 1991 deaths Indian male painters Indian portrait painters 20th-century Indian painters People from Kolar district Painters from Karnataka 20th-century Indian male artists

Biography

See also

References