Sakti Burman (b. 1935)
At a Wedding function, Vadodara, 2005
Sakti Burman was born in 1935 in Kolkata, though his parents had lived in France for a while. His mother died when he was very young which left an impression on his mind forever. The family later moved to Dibrugarh where his experiences in visual landscapes inclined him towards art. He is a painter, sculptor and lithographer, who fills his art with mythic, fantasy and rich colours.
In 1951, Sakti joined a five-year course in fine arts at the Government School of Art in Kolkata. He enjoyed the liberal atmosphere of the institution and made friends with many of those who went on to make a name in the art scene. He won the Prix des Etrangers award in 1956. Some of the most recent solo shows of his work include a retrospective at the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, Mumbai, Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata, and Dakshina Chitra, Chennai, in 2011 and 2012; Mumbai in 2009, 2011, 2006, 2001, 1990, 1988, 1977, 1970 and 1967; London and New York, in 2009; Art Musings, and Maison de I’Unesco in 2008. Burman’s works have also been featured at exhibitions in Los Angeles in 2001, in New York in 2002, at the Rand Palais, Paris, in 1975 and 1994; and at the French Biennales in 1963, 1965 and 1967.
He is married to French painter Maite Delteil and his daughter Maya Burman is also an artist. He has lived in France for the last five decades, while maintaining strong ties with India, by regularly exhibiting his work.