"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. I cherish everything around me."

Education:

• 1928-1931: Art training, correspondence course of Press Art School, London under Percy V. Bradshaw

• 1932- 1933: B. A. in English, Sanskrit, Philosophy, Wilson College

• 1933- 1939: Drawing and painting under Art Master S. L. Haldankar at S. L. Haldankar's Institute in Bombay

• 1935: M.A. in English, Bombay University

Teaching period:

• 1950s: Reader at Department of Art History, Faculty of Fine Arts, MSU

History:

Vasant Raghunath Amberkar was born in Mumbai in 1907. He was an Artist, Art Historian and Critic. While rasa, the Indian essence of aesthetic flavor, pervades his powerful brushstrokes and smeared color grounds, his work is strongly rooted in an Expressionist understanding of figuration and compositional qualities. He was the first Reader and visiting Professor for the Art History department at MSU. He was a Senate member of the Faculty and a supportive guide during its establishment. Amberkar devoted a large portion of his life in organized administrative functioning, which was crucial in many dimensions in its contribution to the development of the Indian arts scene and art education.

He has participated in many solo and group exhibitions. One man show at Jehangir Art Gallery, ‘Towards Light’ in 1962, 1991. ‘Master Strokes’ Annual exhibition at Jehangir Art Gallery in 2007, 16 and 21. He was the Secretary and later Chairman of the Art Society of India in 1935. Committee member to survey Art Education in India under the Chairmanship of Mrs. Hansa Mehta in 1946. International Judging Panel Member of 3rd Triennale exhibition by Lalit Kala Akademi in 1973. In 1946 he was awarded for his painting in the Exhibition of Art Society of India, received the Patel Trophy and Gold and Silver Medal by the Art Society in 1956 and received Fellowship by Lalit Kala Academy in 1979.