Yeshwant Shirwadhkar

Yeshwant Shirwadhkar
Oil On Canvas 
24*24 
Yashwant Shirwadkar was born in 1951 in Mumbai. In 1977 he completed his diploma in ‘Drawing and Painting’ at the Art College in Maharashtra. Since then Shirwadkar has been prolifically exhibiting his impressionistic landscapes. Sometimes a palette knife instead of the regular brushes serves as a tool in helping him to create his realistic landscapes.

Shirwadkar’s most frequent works are scenes from the city of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, India. Most Hindus consider Varanasi a holy city, as the River Ganges flows through it. In Shirwadkar’s paintings, we see this city in all of its glory. He paints people taking dips in the river or praying and meditating on its banks, the multitude of small temples almost falling of the cliff face and the narrow streets teeming with life and activity.

Shirwadkar manages to blend his colours so well in all his paintings, that we actually see the radiance from a setting or rising sun lighting up the city and transforming it into a shimmering and almost breathing, beautiful creature. In his canvases, we see how the artist has deftly used a palette knife and oils to recreate the scenes on the Banaras Ghat. Apart from the Varanasi, he has also painted the landscapes of Rajasthan, Kashmir, Kulu Manali, Goa and Kerala in his early days.

Yashwant Shirwadkar is extensively traveled and has held several solo and group exhibitions, many of which were sponsored in Ahmednagar, Bangalore, Cochin, Chennia, Kolkata, Dehi, Jaipur, Mumbai, Pune and Varanasi. He has also exhibited in Belgium, Nepal, London, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, West germany and USA. His works are also regularly included in domestic and international auctions of Indian Art, breaking records at auction houses like Sotheby’s (1998) and Christie’s.