"Through my works I return to my native roots, to my childhood and that transitory world of innocence" --Sakti Burman. The works of Sakti Burman conjure up the look of a `weathered fresco`. Viewers can feel the intensity of the figures in colours of Sakti Burman. The creations of Sakti Burman bring one to a dream-like world, where the appearance of things and the constitution is often that of medieval icons. He blends oil with acrylics in his paintings. Sometimes he implements artistic movement to apply paint. All these together brings a marbling effect to the paintings. Sakti Burman can thus be regarded a painter and lithographer. His creations can be specified as possessing mythical and fantasy content with rich colours.
Sakti Burman canvas`s is full of mythical creatures. These creatures tell the tales of ancient courtly romances. The enchanting world of bonnie maidens, flutists, children astraddle elephants, exotic flowers, fruit-laden trees, birds and beasts - a lost paradise, where all creatures dwell in harmony, are the subject matters of Sakti Burman. Each work of him is strikingly beautiful. The sheer delicacy of his paintings can be considered unearthly.
Sakti Burman was born in 1935 in Kolkata. He is reckoned as the most contemporary artist of Indian parentage. But presently he lives in France, the place of art and culture for the last five decades. He was brought up in Bangladesh. Before independence, Bangladesh was a part of India. Still Sakti Burman maintains a strong bond with India. He studied at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts in Paris. He belongs to the family of contemporary artists. His daughter Maya Burman is also an illustrious painter. Jayasri Burman, his niece received inspiration to enter into the world of fine arts from her celebrated uncle Sakti Burman. Today she has established her own identity as a praiseworthy artist. She married another famed artist, Paresh Maity.
In India and elsewhere, Sakti Burman has exhibited numerous works of his and has won accolades for his work. Some of them are--- 2007 Visual Arts Gallery, Indian Habitat Centre, New Delhi; 2006 Visual Arts Gallery, Indian Habitat Centre, New Delhi; 2006 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai; 2005 `Retrospective`, organised by Apparao Galleries, Visual Arts Gallery, Indian Habitat Centre, New Delhi; 2001 Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata; 2001 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai; 2001 Art Today, New Delhi; 1999 Atlantic Gallery, New York organised by Apparao Galleries; 1998 Salon d` Automne, Paris Espace Eiffel Branly; 1997 Cloitre de la Dame Blanche, La Rochelle; 1997- Exhibitions organised by Ecole de Paris in Tokushima, Myazaki and Osaka; 1996- Exhibitions organised by Ecole de Paris at Wakayama and Sapporo Visual Art Center, Hong Kong, organised by Apparao Galleries; 1995 The Gallery (Apparao Galleries), Chennai; 1994 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai; 1993 Chitrakoot Art Gallery, Kolkata; 1992 Centre of
Contemporary Art, New Delhi; 1992 `Hommage a Beaudelaire`, Galerie d`Art de la Place beauvau, Paris; 1990 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai; 1989 Semaine Culturelle Indienne, Eaubonne, Val d`Oise; 1989 Fondation Firmin Bauby, Perpignan; 1989 XX salon du Grenier a sel, Orleans; 1988 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai; 1988 Chitrakoot Art Gallery, Kolkata; 1988 Sista Art Gallery, Bangalore; 1988 Hommage- a Rabindranath Tagore, Galerie d` art de la Place Beauvau; 1988 Galerie Presences, Bruxelles; 1986 Galerie Das Kunstabinett, Gogh, Allemagne; 1986 Hotel de ville de Clermont -Ferrand, France; 1986 Centre Culturel de la ville d` Agen; 1985 Galerie Schemes, Lille Centre Cultural de Saint Denis Maison de Van Gogh, Auvets-sur-Oise Galerie Untenburg, Zurich; 1984 Musee Denon, Chalon-sur-Saone Galerie d`Art de la Place Beauvau, Paris; 1984 Kunsthandlung Osper, Cologne; 1983 Galerie Sagar, Zurich; 1982 Contes et Legendes, Galerie d`Art de la Place Beauvau, Paris; 1982 Galleria Cecchini, Perugia; 1982 Galleria Lame, Bologna; 1981 Galerie de la Rue Ancienne, Geneva; 1980 Galerie de Bernardi, Aachen Musee de Blois, Blois Musee de Villeneuve-sur-Lot; 1979 Galerie Gerard Sauret, Libos; 1978 Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata; 1978 Chanakya Art Gallery, New Delhi; 1977 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai; 1977 Kunika Chemould, New Delhi; 1975 Galerie de l`Hotel Meridien, Nice; 1974 Galerie Arts et Beaux-Arts de France, Paris; 1973 Galleria Nuovo Sagittario, Genoa; 1971 Galleria Nuovo Sagittario, Milan; 1970 Galerie Doucet et Coutureau, Paris; 1970 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai; 1967 Piccadilly Gallery, London; 1967 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai; 1965 Kunika Chemould, New Delhi; 1964 Scott and Faure Gallery, La Jolla, California; 1963 Galerie Saint Placide, Paris; 1962 Ashoka Gallery, Kolkata; 1962 All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, New Delhi; 1961 Piccadilly Gallery, London; 1958 Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Paris; 1956 Ecole des Beaux- Arts, France ; 1954 Art and Industry, Kolkata; some Selected Group Exhibitions of Burman include- 2007 `Understanding Oneness in Diversity`, Kitab Mahal, Mumbai; 2007 `An Evening in Paris …Rome…London`, Gallery Sanskriti, Kolkata; 2006 `Sensuality, Perception and the Self`, Visual Arts Gallery, Indian Habitat Centre, New Delhi; 2004 `Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings` by Sakti Burman, Jayasri Burman, Maya Burman, Maite Delteil and Paresh Maity, Gallery 27, London, in collaboration with Mr. Shyamal Burman-Roy; 2004 `Confluence 2004`, AICON Gallery, New York; 2003 `Mappings, Exciting New Links Between the Ancient Cultures of India and Egypt`, organised by Uttarayan (Baroda), Visual Art Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi and Bayer ABS Limited Gallery, Baroda; 2003 `Portraits of a Decade`, organised by Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata; 2003 `Celebration of Colour`, organised by Vadehra Art Gallery and The Times of India, Mumbai, New Delhi; 2003 `The Said and the Unsaid`, organised by The Committee of the Jehangir Art Gallery and Apparao Gallery, Mumbai; 2003 `Shanti Path`, Tao Gallery, Mumbai; 2002 `Aspects of Modern Indian Painting`, New York organised by Saffronart and Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai; 2002 `Return to Eden`, Art Musing, Mumbai; 2001 `Three Burman`, Sakti, Maite and Maya, Art Today, New Delhi; 2001 `Art of Bengal, Past and Present 1850-2000`, National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai and Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata; 2001 `Burman`, Sakti, Maite, Maya`, Mediatheque du Lamentin, La Martinique; 2001 `Indian Contemporary Art`, organised by Saffronart, Hongkong; 2001 `Indian Contemporary Fine Art`, organised by Saffronart in collaboration with Apparao Galleries, Los Angeles; 2001 `A Treasure Trove`, Paintings from B.K. Birla Family Collection, Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata; 2000 Sigmund Freud`s `Interpretation of Dreams`, organised by University Art Museum, Birghamton, New York; 2000 Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien, Vienna; 2000 `Indian Art Through The Ages, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow`, organised by Indian Fine Arts Society, Singapore; 2000 `The World Is Round And Time Is Cyclical`, Art Today, New Delhi; 2000 `Paradise Revisited`, Art Musings, Mumbai; 2000 `Shatabdi - Reflection on a Century Past`, organised by Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata; 2000 Festival des Cinemas d`Asie, Salle des Ursulines, Vesoul; 2000 `Paper`, an exhibition of works on paper, The Terrace Garden, Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi; 2000 `The Family 3`, Sakti Burman, Maya Burman and Jayasri Burman, Apparao Galleries, Chennai; 1998 Christie`s Auction, Indian Contemporary Paintings, London; 1998 `Multimedia, Art of the 1900`s`, Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata; 1998 `Within The Fame`, Apparao Galleries, Hong Kong; 1998 `The Art of Charity`, Mumbai; 1997- Burman`s paintings displayed along with works of Picasso, Chagall and Miro at Tokushima, Myazaki and Osaka, Japan; 1997 `Chamatkar, The Indian Metaphor`, organised by Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata at Whitley`s Art Gallery, London; 1995 Christie`s Auction, Indian Contemporary paintings, London; 1995 `Autumn Exhibition`, Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata, at All Indian Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi; 1994 `Drawing 94`, Gallery Espace, New Delhi; 1993 `Helpage India`, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai; 1983 L`Art Fantastique, Musee de Belfort, France; 1981 Figuration Actuelle, Chateau des Hayes, France; 1980 Galerie Jean Marbach, Mulhouse; 1980 Galerie Schemes, Lille, France; 1980 Musee de Villeneuve - Sur- Lot, France; 1980 Musee de Blois, France; 1975 The Hermitage, Leningrad; 1975 Pouchkine Museum, Moscow; 1964 Chemould, Kolkata; Burman`s participations include-- 2007 `17th Anniversary Show`, Gallery Sanskriti, Kolkata; 2006 `17th Anniversary Group Show`, organised by Gallerie Ganesha, at Gallerie Ganesha and The Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi; 1998 `Harmony Show`, Mumbai; 1984 International Graphic Art Exhibition, New Delhi; 1982 V International Triennale, New Delhi.
