Arpita Singh

Arpita Singh was born in 1937 in Baranagar, then Bengal Presidency, now West Bengal, and moved to New Delhi with her family in 1946 where she has since lived and worked. Singh is a pioneering artist of post-independence era India and has influenced generations of artists, thinkers, and creatives. After graduating in Fine Arts from Delhi Polytechnic in 1959, she worked as a textile designer at the Weaver’s Service Centre, part of the Handloom Board of India. Singh regularly exhibited with fellow artists Nilima Sheikh, Nalini Malani, and Madhvi Parekh. 

Singh’s work has been regularly exhibited in India and internationally, including the 2019 retrospective Submergence: In the Midst of Here and There at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi. The artist has been included in group exhibitions at the Barbican, UK (2024); Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain (2022); Centre Pompidou, France (2021); M+ Museum, Hong Kong (2021–2023); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Spain (2013); Peabody Essex Museum, USA (2013); Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan (2012); and Royal Academy of Arts, UK (1982). She has also participated in the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India (2022); Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2021); Asia Society Triennial, USA (2020–21); Havana Biennial, Cuba (1986); and Triennale–India (1975, 1978). She was awarded a fellowship at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, India in 2014 and was honoured with several awards, including the Padma Bhushan (2011); the Parishad Samman from the Sahitya Kala Parishad, New Delhi (1991); and the Kalidas Samman, Bhopal (1991).