On 26th February at Kalamandir, Kolkata I received the City Merit Certificate from Prafulla Dahanukar Art Foundation (PDAF). And on this occasion, I would love to take the opportunity to say few word about the famous artist Prafulla Dahanukar and about the foundation. But before that, I would love to say some few words about the evening that I spent over Kala Mandir for their program. It was beautiful, especially the words from Mr. Dilip Dahanukar and Mrs. Rakhi Sarkar was inspiring.
Prafulla Dahanukar was a Painter. Raised in Mumbai. She studied fine art at Sir J.J. School of Art with a gold medal in 1955. She also studied fine art in Paris after receiving a scholarship to study from The Government of France. Soon after her graduation in 1955, Prafulla won a Silver Medal for her painting in the Annual Exhibition of the Bombay Art Society. She then began to have solo exhibitions regularly from 1956. On her completion of fifty years of her career as a painter, she was honored by the Jehangir Art Gallery by sponsoring the Retrospective show of her painting through the five decades. While in Paris she held an exhibition of her paintings in 1961 and has since then participated in many international exhibitions in England, Hungary, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Japan, Portugal, Iceland, and France. She has exhibited solo 3 times in London, the first of which was sponsored by the High Commission of India in 1978. Citibank sponsored her show in 2006 in Ardean Gallery in Cork Street, London. In India, she has had several individual shows in Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, and Chennai. Barclays Bank recently in November 2008 sponsored her exhibition in Dubai which was opened by the famous painter M.F. Husain.
Source: Wikipedia.
The Prafulla Dahanukar Art Foundation (PDAF) has been formed to continue her good work of helping young artists. The Foundation finds its benefactors in most of the top artists of India. It is a Foundation borne out artists for the artists. The PDAF is a dynamic organization working to perpetuate her memory.
They also release year book for the artists.
