Who was Alka Raghuvanshi? The Late Artist, Art Critic And Writer

Who was Alka Raghuvanshi? The artist, art critic, and writer Raghuvanshi passed away on the afternoon of May 26.

The news of Dr Alka Raghuvanshi’s passing was shared by her friends via social media. According to Raghuvanshi’s friends, she had been suffering from pneumonia for the last three months.

Sadly, Alka Raghuvanshi, my first wife, my best friend, left us today.@GauriSh53942971 @Singh_kritisans @parasgaur4 @benaresi_lass @mayankjain100 @basantbhardwaj1 @kamleshnirmal21 @drgilada @DrSanjay47 @DrRPNishank @SudhanshuBJP @SudhanshuTrived @ShahnawazBJP @SherRawat10 pic.twitter.com/brHrwx8rtN

— Manoj Raghuvanshi (@manojraghuvansh) May 26, 2021

Who Was Alka Raghuvanshi?

1. Dr Alka Raghuvanshi was India’s first trained art curator and trained at the Goldsmiths College, London and the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford.
2. In her career in arts that lasted more than 30 years, she wrote two books that documented a generation of artists and the artists that shaped Indian’s artistic heritage. The books were titled “A Moment in Time with Legends of Indian Arts” and “Pathfinders: Artistes of One World”.
3. Raghuvanshi wrote a weekly column in The Asian Age, the English-language Indian daily newspaper.
4. In 2012, she curated the “Ehsaas” exhibition where people from a background of art and culture would walk the ramp wearing items like saris, handbags, and ties with artworks replicated on them.
5. Raghuvanshi also curated “Treyi”, an exhibition of hand block saris. She said that “each piece is created using pigment colours” and called it a “unique concept”.
6. Raghuvanshi said that as a painter, she was influenced by J Swaminathan, who she described as having a “wicked sense of humour” and said he had a deep understanding of abstract art.
   
   She said that “I admired him for being able to walk away from unbearable situations with dignity. When I quit active journalism to become a full-time artist, I was secretly inspired by him.”
7. Alka Raghuvanshi and photographer Sanjay Sharma travelled to the Garhwal Himalaya region in Uttarakhand. The documentation to the region titled “Garhwal Himalayas: Chorus of Solitude”.
   
   Raghuvanshi described the book as a “journey of faith and reality” and it documented the myths, legends, and religious harmony of the region.

Feature Image Credit: Mojarto, YouTube