Prabhakar Barwe studied art at Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay. His fascination with the abstract form, drawn from the style and the concepts of Bauhaus, was reflected in his early watercolors and later works with floating motifs on a transparent surface. Barwe rejected both the British academic tradition-dictated artistic models in Indian figurative art and the Indian miniature form to evolve a universal, abstract visual language that explored inward spaces and transient realities.

Born in 1921 in Chittagong, undivided India, Somnath Hore studied at the Government Art College in Calcutta. His works represent the turbulent lives at the time of the Bengal Famine of 1943. His pictorial language in his sketches, sculptures and prints is a reaction to one of the major crisis’ that hit Bengal in the 20th century. His etchings represent a time when he moved on from semi representational works to abstract works. The viscosity technique utilizes a combination of relief printmaking and intaglio printmaking methods to create a multicolored print.

Born in 1914, K. H. Ara, a founder member of the Progressive Artists’ Group, evolved his trademark style, through nudes and still-life paintings. He was a modernist for whom the form and language of art preceded all other social and political motivations. This evolved a certain eclecticism which led him in an exploration of his own style.

Jamini Roy, who was inspired by folk traditions created an Alpana or a floral motif that was considered to be sacred painting in Bengal because it was done on special occasions. The alpana which is usually done with hands and rice paint on the floor was done with tempera on cloth instead. Roy used abstraction, rejected the typical western style of painting with folk line and color. He invented his own style which was inspired by primitivism and with stronger colors, simplification, and pattern.

After a diploma in Fine Arts specializing in Murals in 1940 and a postgraduate course from Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai, KS Kulkarni went to Delhi in 1943 to study textile design. In 1945, he quit his job and joined the art department of the Delhi Polytechnic and became a member of Delhi’s All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society. In 1947, he founded two creative spaces: Delhi Shilpi Chakra and Triveni Kala Sangam.

On the canvas, Krishen Khanna's main concern has been with the human condition and its moral predicament. His approach to this came from a search for allegories that lent themselves to pictorial interpretation and irony. One of his most popular themes are the ‘bandwallahs’ whom Khanna encountered when he was driving out of the Garhi studios in New Delhi. They were subjects from daily life were refugees after the partition of 1947. Many people on both sides of the border lost family and homes. At the same time, there were bands playing happy tunes. The Band members were dressed up and were in tatters at the same time. Khanna saw this as a metaphor for life; life has both tragic and happy moments that occur at the same time. 

Raghu Rai started taking photographs when he was 23 years old. In 1966, he joined the staff at The Statesman in Delhi. Henri Cartier-Bresson nominated Rai to join Magnum Photos in 1977 after seeing his work in an exhibition in Paris. From 1982 until 1992, Rai was the director of photography for India Today. There, he worked on special issues and designs, contributing trailblazing picture essays on social, political and cultural themes, many of which became the talking point of the magazine.

Francis Newton Souza was on modern India’s leaders of art and is known for his organic and complex growth in his works. In 1976, Souza migrated to New York and redefined his style of art. It was there that he developed his style of bold lines and cross-hatchings. Souza was known for his head portraits and also went on to use a chemical alteration and mixed media on posters and magazine covers. The chemical alterations was a method by which he used a chemical solvent on printed paper without destroying the surface. The ‘Souza head’ became one of his signature styles where he depicted a distorted head. Here, we can see Souza’s individuality and style defined and established with a felt pen on Christmas poster which has some chemical alterations.

Jamini Roy's rejection of the western academic style of painting led to him being inspired by  Bengali folk paintings. Before he made the complete switch to the pat style paintings, he was depicting village life and folk. This work shows a personal reconstruction of another Indian reality that was often not seen in urban areas. Possibly an attempt to have art that could be accessible to a larger Indian audience, Roy broke away from classical traditions of art. Making his own paints, he experimented with his style and mediums. This work shows his typical hues of blue, yellows, red and browns that he made from local pigments.

Ram Kumar was an essential part of the first generation of postcolonial Indian artists.  He was born in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh in 1924 and was a member of the Bombay Progressive Artists Group along with other popular artists like Husain, Raza and Sadanand Bakre.