Sakti Burman

Sakti Burman's paintings evoke the look of a weathered fresco, depicting figures in hues that the viewer feels were once vivid, but are now faded. They transport one into their dream-like worlds, where the perspective and composition is often that of medieval icons. Burman has mastered both pointillism and the marbling effect, achieved by blending oils with acrylics, which enhance the fresco-like, enthralling appearances of his works on paper and canvas.

In the artist’s work, reality mingles with the world of his dreams. Though realism surfaces in Burman’s paintings, often in the form of past and present members of his own family in India and France, he constantly and assuredly returns to the dream world. On Burman's canvases, one finds mythical creatures that tell ancient tales of courtly romances, bringing alive an enchanting world of comely maidens, children astride elephants, flutists, fruit laden trees, exotic flowers, birds and beasts; a lost paradise, where all creatures dwell in harmony. Each work is captivating, luminescent and delicate. Working in his Paris atelier, Burman is in close communion with this private universe of enchanting creatures. Engaging with grace and beauty, he creates a sense of tranquility in his art.

Born in 1935, Burman studied at the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Kolkata, and later at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris. The artist had his first solo exhibition in 1954 in Kolkata, and has since exhibited widely across the world including at venues like the Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Paris; Piccadilly Gallery, London; Galerie Doucet et Coutureau, Paris; Galleria Nuovo Sagittario, Milan; and Galerie Sagar, Zurich.

Burman has participated in several group shows, some of the most recent including 'Faces of Indian Art' organized by Art Alive at the Visual Art Gallery, New Delhi; ‘Understanding Oneness in Diversity’ at Kitab Mahal, Mumbai; ‘An Evening in Paris …Rome…London’ at Gallery Sanskriti, Kolkata; and 'Resonance' organized by Art Musings at Museum Gallery, Mumbai, all in 2007. Burman was awarded the Medaille d’Argent au Salon de Montmorency and the Prix des Etrangers, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris in 1956.

Government College of Arts and Crafts in Kolkata (1956)

Solo Exhibitions

2008 Maison de l'Unesco, organized by Unesco, Salles Miro, Paris, Art Alive, New Delhi, Aicon Gallery, New York

2007 Visual Arts Gallery, Indian Habitat Centre, New Delhi

2006 Visual Arts Gallery, Indian Habitat Centre, New Delhi Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai

2005 Retrospective, organized by Apparao Galleries, Visual Arts Gallery, Indian Habitat
Centre, New Delhi.

2001 Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata
Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai, Art Todat, New Delhi

1999 Atlantic Gallery, New York organized by Apparao Galleries

1998 Salon d' Automne, Paris Espace Eiffel Branly

1997 Cloitre de la Dame Blanche, La Rochelle
Exhibitions organized by Ecole de Paris at Tokushima, Myazaki and Osaka

1996 Exhibitions organized by Ecole de Paris at Wakayama and Sapporo

1995 Apparao Galleries, Chennai

1994 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai

1993 Chitrakoot Art Gallery, Kolkata

1992 Centre of Contemporary Art, New Delhi

1990 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai

1989 Semaine Culturelle Indienne, Eaubonne, Val d'Oise
Fondation Firmin Bauby, Perpignan XX salon du Grenier a sel, Orleans

1988 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai Chitrakoot Art Gallery, Kolkata

1988 Sista Art Gallery, Bangalore
Hommage a Rabindranath Tagore, Galerie d'art de la Place Beauvau Galerie presences, Bruxelles

1986 Galerie das Kunstabinett, Gogh, Allemagne
Hotel de ville de ville d' Agen Centre Culturel de la ville d' Agen

1985 Galerie Schemes, Lille Centre Cultural de Saint Denis Maison de Van Gogh, Auvers-sur-Oise
Galerie Untenburg, Zurich

1984 Musee Denon, Chalon-sur-Saone Galerie d'Art de la Place Beauvau, Paris Kunsthandlung Osper, Cologne

1983 Galerie Sagar, Zurich

1982 Contes et Legendes, Galerie d'Art de la Place Beauvau, Paris Galleria Cecchini, Perugia
Galleria Lame, Bologna

1981 Galerie de la Rue Ancienne, Geneva

1980 Galerie de Bernardi, Aachen Musee de Blois, Blois Musee de Villeneuve-sur-Lot

1979 Galerie Gerard Sauret, Libos

1978 Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata
Chanakya Art Gallery, New Delhi

1977 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai Kunika Chemould, New Delhi

1975 Galerie de l'Hotel Meridien, Nice

1974 Galerie Arts et Beaux-Arts de France, Paris

1973 Galleria Nuovo Sagittario, Genoa

1971 Galleria Nuovo Sagittario, Milan

1970 Galerie Doucet et Coutureau, Paris Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai

1967 Piccadilly Gallery, Mumbai Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai

1965 Kunika Chemould, New Delhi

1964 Scott and Faure Gallery, La Jolla, California

1963 Galerie Saint Placide, Paris

1962 Ashoka Gallery, Kolkata
All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, Delhi

1961 Piccadilly Gallery, Mumbai

1958 Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Paris

1956 Ecole des Beaux- Arts

1954 Art and Industry, Kolkata Select Group Exhibitions

2007 Understanding Oneness in Diversity, Kitab Mahal, Mumbai An Evening in Paris …Rome…London, Gallery Sanskriti, Kolkata

2006 Sensuality, Perception and the Self, Visual Arts Gallery, Indian Habitat Centre, New
Delhi

2004 Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings Gallery 27, London Confluence 2004, AICON Gallery, New York

2003 Mappings, Exciting New Links Between the Ancient Cultures of India and Egypt,
organized by Uttarayan (Baroda), Visual Art Gallery, India habitat Centre, New Delhi
and Bayer ABS Limited Gallery, Baroda
Portraits of a Decade, Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata
Celebration of Color, organized by Vadehra Art Gallery and The Times of India,
Mumbai, New Delhi
The Said and the Unsaid, organized by The Committee of the Jehangir Art Gallery and
Apparao Gallery, Mumbai
Shanti Path, Tao Gallery, Mumbai

2002 Aspects of Modern Indian Painting, New York organized by Saffronart and Pundole Art
Gallery, Mumbai Return to Eden, Art Musing, Mumbai

2001 Three Burman, Sakti, Maite and Maya, Art Today, New Delhi Art of Bengal, Past and Present 1850-2000, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai
and CIMA Gallery, Kolkata Burman', Sakti, Maite, Maya', Mediatheque du Lamentin, La Martinique
Indian Contemporary Art, organized by Saffronart, Hongkong
Indian Contemporary Art, organized by Saffronart in collaboration with Apparao
galleries, Los Angeles
A Treasure Trove, Paintings from B.K. Birla Family Collection, Birla Academy of Art
and Culture, Kolkata

2000 Sigmund Freud's 'Interpretation of Dreams', organized by University Art Museum,
Birghamton, New York
Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien, Vienna
Indian Art Through The Ages, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, organized by Indian Fine
Arts Society, Singapore
The World Is Round And Time Is Cyclical, Art Today, New Delhi
Paradise Revisited, Art Musings, Mumbai
Shatabdi – Reflection on a Century Past, organized by CIMA Gallery, Kolkata
Festival des Cinemas d'Asie, Salle des Ursulines, Vesoul
Paper, The Terrace Garden, Triveni kala Sangam, New Delhi
The Family 3, Sakti Burman, Maya Burman and Jayasri Burman, Apparao Galleries,
Chennai