Sobha Singh (painter)
Encyclopedia
Sir Sobha Singh is a well known contemporary painter from Indian Punjab
.
Sikh
family in Sri Hargobindpur
, Gurdaspur
district of Punjab
. His father, Deva Singh, was in the Indian cavalry.
for a one-year course in art and craft. He joined the British Indian army
as a draughtsman and served in Baghdad
, Mesopotamia
(now Iraq
). In 1923 he left army and returned to Amritsar
, where he opened his art studio. In the same year, he married Bibi Inder Kaur on Baisakhi day. He worked from his studios at Amritsar, Lahore
(1926) and Delhi
(1931).
In 1946, He went back to Lahore and opened his studio at Anarkali and was working as an art director for a film when he was forced to leave the city due to partition of the country. In 1949 he settled down in Andretta (near Palampur
), a remote and then little-known place in the Kangra Valley
, beginning his career as a painter. Now these days this place is very well known.
.
The portrait he made in honour of the 500th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak in 1969 is the one most people believe to be the visage of Guru Nanak. Sobha Singh painted pictures of other gurus as well, Guru Amar Das
, Guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Har Krishan
.
His paintings of Sohni Mahiwal
and Heer Ranjha
were also very popular. He also painted impressive portraits of national heroes and leaders like Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Kartar Singh Sarabha, Mahatma Gandhi
, Lal Bahadur Shastri
etc.
His murals are displayed in the art gallery of Indian Parliament House in New Delhi. The panel depicting the evolution of Sikh history features Guru Nanak with Bala
and Mardana
on one side; and Guru Gobind Singh
in meditation on the other. Sobha Singh also dabbled in sculpture, and did the busts of some eminent Punjabis such as M.S. Randhawa, Prithviraj Kapoor
and Nirmal Chandra, and an incomplete head-study of the Punjabi
poetess Amrita Pritam
. The originals of his works are displayed in his studio at Andretta. General public can also visit his studio in Andretta
Sobha Singh died in Chandigarh
on 21 August 1986.
in 1974 and the Padma Shri
of the Government of India
in 1983. He was conferred upon the degree of Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa) by Punjabi University
, Patiala.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
released a documentary film titled Painter of the People based on his life and works. The British Broadcasting Corporation also made a documentary on him in 1984. Indian Government issued postal stamp in honor of Sir Sobha Singh in 2001.
Punjab (India)
Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
.
Early life
He was born on 29 November 1901 in a RamgarhiaRamgarhia
The Ramgarhia community is an Indo Aryan ethnic tribe of the Punjab region in South Asia. They are named after Sardar Jassa Singh Ramgarhia who was the leader of the Ramgarhia Misl...
Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
family in Sri Hargobindpur
Sri Hargobindpur
Sri Hargobindpur is a city and a municipal council in Gurdaspur district in the Indian state of Punjab. Situated on the banks of the Beas River, the city is also the erstwhile capital of the Ramgarhia Misl.-Demographics:...
, Gurdaspur
Gurdaspur
Gurdaspur is a city in the state of Punjab, situated in the northwest part of the Republic of India. It is located in the center of and is the administrative head of Gurdaspur District. It was the location of a fort which was famous for the siege it sustained in 1712 from the Mughals...
district of Punjab
Punjab (British India)
Punjab was a province of British India, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British rule. With the end of British rule in 1947 the province was split between West Punjab, which went to Pakistan, and East Punjab, which went to India...
. His father, Deva Singh, was in the Indian cavalry.
Education and training
At age 15, Sobha Singh entered the Industrial School at AmritsarAmritsar
Amritsar is a city in the northern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering 3,695,077...
for a one-year course in art and craft. He joined the British Indian army
British Indian Army
The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...
as a draughtsman and served in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
(now Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
). In 1923 he left army and returned to Amritsar
Amritsar
Amritsar is a city in the northern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering 3,695,077...
, where he opened his art studio. In the same year, he married Bibi Inder Kaur on Baisakhi day. He worked from his studios at Amritsar, Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
(1926) and Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
(1931).
Palampur
Palampur is a green hill station and a municipal council in the Kangra Valley in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, surrounded on all sides by tea gardens and pine forests before they merge with the Dhauladhar ranges. Palampur is the tea capital of northwest India but tea is just one aspect that...
), a remote and then little-known place in the Kangra Valley
Kangra Valley
Kangra Valley is situated in Himachal Pradesh, India. It is a popular tourist destination, with the peak season around March and April.Dharamsala, the headquarters of Kangra district, lies on the southern spur of Dhauladhar in the valley .-Geography:...
, beginning his career as a painter. Now these days this place is very well known.
Painting
During his 38-year stay at Andretta, S. Sobha Singh painted hundreds of paintings. His main focus was Sikh gurus, their life and work. His series on the Sikh gurus have dominated to an extent that his paintings dominate the public's perception associated with Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind SinghGuru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh is the tenth and last Sikh guru in a sacred lineage of ten Sikh gurus. Born in Patna, Bihar in India, he was also a warrior, poet and philosopher. He succeeded his father Guru Tegh Bahadur as the leader of Sikhs at a young age of nine...
.
The portrait he made in honour of the 500th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak in 1969 is the one most people believe to be the visage of Guru Nanak. Sobha Singh painted pictures of other gurus as well, Guru Amar Das
Guru Amar Das
Guru Amar Das was the third of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism and was given the title of Sikh Guru on 26 March 1552.-His life:...
, Guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Har Krishan
Guru Har Krishan
Guru Har Krishan was the eighth of the Eleven Gurus of Sikhism. He became Guru on 7 October 1661, succeeding his father, Guru Har Rai...
.
His paintings of Sohni Mahiwal
Sohni Mahiwal
Sohni Mahiwal and is included in seven popular tragic romances from Sindh and Baluchistan. The other six are Momal Rano, Umar Marvi, LiLa Chanesar, Noori Jam Tamachi, Sassi Punnun and Dhaj, Ror Kumar commonly known as Seven Queens of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai...
and Heer Ranjha
Heer Ranjha
For 1970 Hindi movie of same name and characters, see Heer Raanjha.Heer Ranjha is one of the four popular tragic romances of the Punjab. The other three are Mirza Sahiba, Sassi Punnun and Sohni Mahiwal. There are several poetic narrations of the story, the most famous being 'Heer' by Waris Shah...
were also very popular. He also painted impressive portraits of national heroes and leaders like Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Kartar Singh Sarabha, Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
, Lal Bahadur Shastri
Lal Bahadur Shastri
Lal Bahadur Srivastava Shastri was the second Prime Minister of the Republic of India and a significant figure in the Indian independence movement.-Early life:...
etc.
His murals are displayed in the art gallery of Indian Parliament House in New Delhi. The panel depicting the evolution of Sikh history features Guru Nanak with Bala
Bhai Bala
Bhai Bala , born in Talvandi Rai Bhoi in a Jatt family. He was a supposed childhood friend and all his life a constant companion of Bhai Mardana and Guru Nanak. According to the Bhai Bala Janam Sakhi's. he travelled with Guru Nanak and Bhai Mardana on all their great journeys around the world...
and Mardana
Mardana
Mardana can refer to* Bhai Mardana, the companion of the founder of Sikhism* the outer part of a South Asian house, as opposed to the Zenana...
on one side; and Guru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh is the tenth and last Sikh guru in a sacred lineage of ten Sikh gurus. Born in Patna, Bihar in India, he was also a warrior, poet and philosopher. He succeeded his father Guru Tegh Bahadur as the leader of Sikhs at a young age of nine...
in meditation on the other. Sobha Singh also dabbled in sculpture, and did the busts of some eminent Punjabis such as M.S. Randhawa, Prithviraj Kapoor
Prithviraj Kapoor
Prithviraj Kapoor , 3 November 1906 – 29 May 1972) was a pioneer of Indian theatre and of the Hindi film industry, who started his career as an actor, in the silent era of Hindi cinema, associated with IPTA and who founded Prithvi Theatres, a travelling theatre company based in Mumbai, in...
and Nirmal Chandra, and an incomplete head-study of the Punjabi
Punjabi language
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...
poetess Amrita Pritam
Amrita Pritam
Amrita Pritam was a Punjabi writer and poet, considered the first prominent woman Punjabi poet, novelist, and essayist, and the leading 20th-century poet of the Punjabi language, who is equally loved on both the sides of the India-Pakistan border, with a career spanning over six decades, she...
. The originals of his works are displayed in his studio at Andretta. General public can also visit his studio in Andretta
Sobha Singh died in Chandigarh
Chandigarh
Chandigarh is a union territory of India that serves as the capital of two states, Haryana and Punjab. The name Chandigarh translates as "The Fort of Chandi". The name is from an ancient temple called Chandi Mandir, devoted to the Hindu goddess Chandi, in the city...
on 21 August 1986.
Awards
Numerous awards and distinctions were conferred on him, the prominent being the title of State Artist of the Punjab GovernmentPunjab Government
Punjab Government may refer to:*Government of Punjab *Government of Punjab...
in 1974 and the Padma Shri
Padma Shri
Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan...
of the Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
in 1983. He was conferred upon the degree of Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa) by Punjabi University
Punjabi University
Punjabi University, located at Patiala, is one of the premier institutions of higher education in Punjab, India. Panjabi University teaches and researches in science, engineering and technology, humanities, social sciences, performing arts and sports....
, Patiala.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India)
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is a branch of the Government of India is the apex body for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to information, broadcasting, the press and films in India....
released a documentary film titled Painter of the People based on his life and works. The British Broadcasting Corporation also made a documentary on him in 1984. Indian Government issued postal stamp in honor of Sir Sobha Singh in 2001.