Arpita Singh

Painter

Indian Baranagar, Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bengal Presidency, British India

Quick Info

Profession	Painter
Nationality	Indian
Date of Birth	22/06/1937
Birthplace	Baranagar, Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bengal Presidency, British India
Date of Death	2026

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Bio/Wiki

Summary	Indian figurative modernist painter known for dense, narrative canvases centred on women's inner lives. Her work draws on Indian miniature painting, folk art, crafts and textiles.
Early Work	Her early paintings were mainly watercolours on paper. She shifted to oil on canvas in the 1990s while continuing to focus on women-centred themes.
Death	Reported as having died in Delhi in 2026.

Educational Qualification(s)

Diploma	Diploma in fine arts, Delhi Polytechnic (studied 1954-1959)

Personal Life

Marital Status	Married
Spouse	Paramjit Singh, painter (m. 1962)
Residence	New Delhi

Relationships & More

Influences	Nancy Spero May Stevens Ana Mendieta
Peers	Nalini Malani Nilima Sheikh Madhvi Parekh

Family

Spouse	Paramjit Singh (artist, born 1935)
Daughter	Anjum Singh (artist, 1967 - 2020)
Marriage Year	1962

Career

Early Career	Worked with the Weavers' Service Centre after graduating and joined a government cottage industries programme in 1959.
First Solo Exhibition	1972, Kunika Chemould Gallery, New Delhi
Notable Exhibitions	Through The Looking Glass (1987-89), organised and participated in with contemporary women artists Submergence: In the Midst of Here and There, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi (2019 retrospective) Tying Down Time, Talwar Gallery (2018) Remembering, Serpentine Galleries, London (2025), her first institutional solo show outside India
Collections	Royal Academy of Arts Centre Georges Pompidou Art Gallery of New South Wales Victoria and Albert Museum, London National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
Awards and Honours	Padma Bhushan (2011) Fellowship of Lalit Kala Akademi (2014) Parishad Samman, Sahitya Kala Parishad Kalidas Samman

Style Quotient

Medium	Oil on canvas; watercolour and works on paper
Style	Figurative, narrative and modernist, with layered imagery of people, objects, maps, numbers and text

Some Lesser Known Facts

1. Her family moved to New Delhi in 1946.
2. Her early abstract black-and-white works of the 1970s marked a formative period in her practice.
3. She was listed among Hurun India 2025 Women Leaders.

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