Tyeb Mehta was a reclusive painter

His paintings are the pride of many a living room of the rich and famous but 84-year-old Tyeb Mehta preferred working from a sparse middle-class apartment in the suburbs.

A room of the apartment, in Lokhandwala area of Andheri, was converted into a studio from where Mehta, among the most reclusive artists in India, worked, surrounded by the dust and noise of high rises.

The renowned artist, who passed away here last night, was awarded Padma Bhushan for his contribution to art.

Mehta was born in 1925 in Gujarat. His canvas 'Kali' broke the Rs 1 crore barrier, and his 'Celebration' went for Rs 1.5 crore in 2003.

Mehta initially worked as a film editor before he decided to pursue art and in 1952 obtained a diploma from the prestigious JJ School of Art in Mumbai.

He became a close associate of the Progressive Arts Group during his education at the school, a group of artists who drew stylistic inspiration from Western Modernism.

He went on to work in London for five years between 1959 and 1964 and later obtained a Rockefeller Fellowship to travel to the US in 1968, a journey which he said influenced his style of painting. 

The noted artist has had his works exhibited across the country and world, and apart from the Padma Bhushan was honoured with the Lalit Kala Akademi award in 1965 and the Kalidas Samman by the Madhya Pradesh government in 1988.

Mehta, who is credited with introducing ancient imagery into his paintings in a modern form, had in recent years begun introducing mythological figures in his works including the famous work titled 'Kali'.

Other noted works of the artist like those titled 'Trussed bull on a rickshaw' and 'Falling Figures' had also fetched the reclusive Mehta acclaim globally and made him one of the faces of Indian art.