Gulammohammed Sheikh Indian, b. 1937

Gulammohammed Sheikh (B. 1937)

Born in 1937 in Surendranagar, Gujarat, Gulammohammed Sheikh completed a master’s of fine arts in painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Baroda. Sheikh’s oeuvre grows from a deep immersion into cultural narratives with his mastery of painterly and sculptural forms. As an accomplished artist, poet, and scholar, his work is rooted in a profound exploration of cultural histories, mythologies and artistic traditions transcending conventional confines and charting a distinctive trajectory that interweaves heritage and contemporary expression.

In 2025, Gulammohammed Sheikh’s retrospective titled of worlds within worlds is on view at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Delhi. Sheikh’s work has also most recently been exhibited at the Barbican Centre, London, in a group show titled The Imaginary Institution of India, curated by Shanay Jhaveri, in 2024. He has participated in various solo exhibitions and prominent group shows, including Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi (2023, 2021, 2011); the Faculty of Fine Arts, Vadodara (2019, 2016); the Guild at Gallery White, Vadodara (2018); Anant Art Gallery at Bikaner House, New Delhi (2018); Threshold Art Gallery (2016); the Kochi–Muziris Biennale (curated by Jitish Kallat) (2014); the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai (2012); and the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi (2012), among others.

His works are included in important museum collections, including the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; the Peabody Essex Museum, USA; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi; Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan as well as several private collections around the world.

In 1966, he received the Commonwealth Scholarship from the Royal College of Art, London, and was later conferred an associate of the academy. He has taught art history and painting at the University of Baroda, served as a visiting artist at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2002 and a visiting fellow at Delhi University in 2004. He has also been a writer/artist in residence of the South Asia Regional Studies department at the University of Pennsylvania in 2000 and completed residencies at the Civitella Ranieri Centre, Umbertide, Italy, in 1998, and the Montalvo Arts Center, California, USA, in 2005. He was awarded the National Award by the Lalit Kala Akademi in 1962, the Padma Shri in 1983, the Raja Ravi Varma Puruskaram from the Government of Kerala in 2009 and the Padma Bhushan in 2014, among several other prestigious recognitions.

The artist lives and works between Delhi and Baroda.