Archive · 9 Oct 2026
How Mumbai and Its People Shaped Sudhir Patwardhan
Sudhir Patwardhan’s story follows his growth as an artist over many years.
When he was a student in Pune, he began reading Marxist and existentialist writers.
He also met students from many different backgrounds at his hostel.
During the 1970s, he became more aware of labour movements in Maharashtra.
By the start of the new millennium, he was known as one of India’s leading contemporary artists.
He had also started taking photographs of people and places.
He used those pictures to help him remember details for paintings he made later.
Before that, he relied on sketchbooks for this purpose.
The account traces Sudhir Patwardhan’s development from his student years in Pune to the start of the new millennium.
As a student, Patwardhan encountered Marxist and existentialist writers.
His hostel peers came from diverse backgrounds.
He gradually became aware of labour movements taking shape in Maharashtra during the 1970s.
By the start of the millennium, Patwardhan was an established contemporary artist and used photographs as memory aids for paintings.
- Who
- Sudhir Patwardhan, an Indian contemporary artist.
- What
- His artistic development and the influences of his student experiences, social awareness and photographic practice.
- When
- From his student years in Pune through the start of the millennium; the account mentions labour movements in the 1970s.
- Where
- Pune and Maharashtra; the headline also refers to Mumbai and its people.
- Why
- The account describes experiences and influences that shaped Patwardhan and his approach to making paintings.
- Artist
- Sudhir Patwardhan
- Student setting
- Pune
- Intellectual influences
- Marxist and existentialist writers
- Social context
- Labour movements in Maharashtra during the 1970s
- Later period described
- The start of the millennium
- Photographs
- Used as aids to memory for later paintings
- Earlier reference aid
- Sketchbooks, used well into the 1990s