Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh

Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh studied at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. The recorded working language is Gujarati. Work by Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh is recorded in the collections of Victoria and Albert Museum. Distinctions recorded are Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri in arts and Sahitya Akademi Award in Gujarati.

Sheikh was born on 16 February 1937 in Surendranagar (now in Saurashtra region of Gujarat, India). He matriculated in 1955. He completed B.A. in Fine Art in 1959 and M.A. in 1961 from Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. He received ARCA from Royal College of Art, London in 1966.

In 1960, he joined as a professor of Fine Arts in the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Baroda. His teaching positions have included teaching art history in the Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda (1960–63 and 1967–81) and as Professor of Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda (1982–1993). He has been a Visiting Artist at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1987 and 2002, and a Writer/Artist in Residence at Civitella Ranieri Center, Umbertide, Italy (1998), at the University of Pennsylvania (2002), and at Montalvo, California (2005). Sheikh has been a major figure in the world of Indian art for more than four decades. He has participated in major exhibitions all over the world and his works are displayed in private and public collections including the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi, Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, USA. Ghulam has been active not merely as an artist but also as a teacher and writer. His collection of Gujarati surrealistic poems, Athwa (1974) won him considerable critical acclaim. He has also written a prose series, Gher Jatan and edited special issues of Kshitij as well as Vishwamanav and Sayujya magazines. American Chitrakala (1964) is his translated work.

"Sheikh's art is by its nature," writes Chaitanya Sambrani, "one that takes on task of narrating, and therefore, recreating the world. There is a close tie-in between this narrative and an act of mapping the world, which gives to the speaking subject the possibility of addressing the world as his/her own". Recently Sheikh had been working on the Mappa Mundi series where he defines new horizons and ponders over to locate himself in. Sheikh construes these personal universes enthused from the miniature shrines where he urges the audience to exercise the freedom to build up their Mappa Mundi. Sheikh's practice transcends linear histories, drawing from personal memory, cultural heritage, and global influences. Sheikh's style is fundamentally narrative. He uses both traditional and contemporary formats—such as Kaavads, accordion books, and digital collages—to weave multi-layered stories. His storytelling is influenced by oral traditions, literature, poetry (e.g., Kabir), and historical memory, often blending the personal with the political. His work moves across gouaches, oil paintings, prints, and digital art, showing a comfort with both tactile and technological tools. His paintings often fuse Persian, Mughal, Indian miniature, and modernist aesthetics, pointing to his syncretic vision of culture. Works like Speechless City and City for Sale show a critical engagement with urban transformation, political unrest, and violence. These are often rendered in densely composed cityscapes, loaded with allegorical figures, architectural fragments, and satirical commentary. In digital works like Talisman: Taweez and Mappamundi, Sheikh uses maps as metaphors, questioning colonial borders, memory, and geopolitical power. His visual style here blends digital layering with historical referencing, creating palimpsests of place and time. Ghulam Sheikh's painting style is narrative-driven, hybrid in media, politically conscious, and anchored in cultural syncretism and visual storytelling. He bridges miniature painting, modernist experimentation, and digital expression, making him a uniquely expansive voice in contemporary Indian art.

Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh lives with his artist-wife Nilima in Vadodara, India.

• Solo Exhibition at Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay, 1960 • National Exhibition, New Delhi, 1962 • The VII Tokyo Biennale, Tokyo, Japan, 1963 • Cinquieme Biennale de Paris, Paris, 1967 • 25 Years of Indian Art, Lalit Kala Akademi, Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi, 1972 • Contemporary painting of India, Belgrade, Warsaw, Sofia, Brussels, 1974 • III Triennale (India), Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi, 1975 • Place for People (6 artists), Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay and Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi, 1981 • Contemporary Indian Art, Royal Academy of Arts, Festival of India, London, 1982 • Returning Home, Solo Exhibition (a retrospective selection of work from 1968 to 1985) at Centre Georges Pompidou, Musee National d'Art Modeme, Paris, 1985 • Timeless Art, exhibition and auction, Times of India sesquicentennial at Victoria Terminus, Bombay, 1989 • Realism as an Attitude, IV Asian Art Show, Fukuoka, Japan, 1995 • Two-person show (with Bhupen Khakhar), Walsh Gallery, Chicago, USA, 2002

• Profile on Google Arts & Culture • Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh Archive on Asia Art Archive