Artist Jehangir Sabavala passes away

Well-known painter Jehangir Sabavala passed away in Mumbai on Friday  morning after battling lung cancer for over two years, just a week after his 89th birth anniversary. He passed away at Breach Candy Hospital due to respiratory failure. He is survived by his wife Shireen and daughter Aafreed. He resided at the old Altamount Road in Mumbai and was very much unlike a popular artist. His lifestyle was simple even if his vision for life was larger than life and symbolic on the canvas.was influenced by cubism and impressionism. His subjects were usually landscapes, figures and seascapes in pastels and muted colours. [caption id=“attachment_75778” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Screen grab from ibnlive.com”]  [/caption] Sabavala was born into the aristocratic Cowasji Jehangir family in Mumbai in 1922. He graduated from the JJ School of Arts in 1944 and was highly acclaimed in India and abroad. He then went on to study at Heatherley School of Art in London and the Academie Andre Lhote, the Academie Julian and the Academic de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris. His first exhibition was held in a room at the Taj Mahal hotel in Bombay, with the help of MF Hussain. In 2005, a retrospective of his works was organised by the National Gallery of Modern Art in Mumbai and Sakshi Gallery. A film on his life Colours of Absence, by Arun Khopkar, won the National Award in 1994. Sabavala was awarded the ‘Padma Shri’ in 1977 and the Lalit Kala Ratna in 2007.