Kanwarjit Singh Kang

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Kanwarjit Singh Kang (born 12 April 1942) is a Sikh art historian focused on Punjabi art. Kang has written a dozen research papers and thirteen books on the topics of art, handicrafts, and folklore of India. [1] He also has contributed to English and Punjabi language newspapers and journals. His specialty is Punjabi murals. [2] He served as the director of a research-project on the folk arts of northwest India financed by the National Academy of Art, Government of India. [3] He served on the editorial board of the Roopa-Lekha periodical.

Contents

Biography

Kang was born in Takhran village in Ludhiana district in British Punjab in 1942. [3] He passed his matriculation in 1957 and joined the school of art at Shimla after that, shifting afterwards to Chandigarh, completing a five-year diploma course in drawing and painting of commercial art in 1962. [4] He became a college lecturer in art in 1963, completing his bachelor of art degree, and passed his M.A. in three subjects: Ancient Indian History and Culture, History of Art, and English. [4]

Showing an early-interest in art since his youth, he completed his PhD at Panjab University, Chandigarh with a focus on mural paintings in 19th century Punjab under the supervision of B. N. Goswamy. [4] [3] He has travelled to many settlements across the state of Punjab in an attempt to document wall-paintings, including taking photographs of them, especially during the period of 1969–75. [3] [4] In 1985, he authored the book 'Wall Paintings of Punjab and Haryana', where Kanwarjit Singh Kang identified 175 sites in then Punjab that had extant mural artwork dating to the 19th century. [5] [4] He taught the subject of art at government colleges and retired as the Principal of the Govt. Ranbir College, Sangrur in 2000. Kang was awarded the Punjab Gaurav Sanmaan award in 2020. [3]

Collection

Kang possesses a personal collection of around five-thousand photographs and colour-slides documenting art objects of the states of Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan, including wall-paintings, miniature paintings, sculptures, wood-carvings, folk arts and crafts, and archeological objects. [3] As a documenter of Sikh art, he has amassed a vast collection of 40,000 photographs of Punjabi wall paintings he has taken throughout his career. [6] He has published many books analyzing the context of various murals he has captured with his camera. [6] He has allowed the Panjab Digital Library to digitize his collection in his strong room. [7]

Bibliography

Books

Articles

Awards

References

  1. ↑ Chilana, Rajwant Singh, ed. (Jan 16, 2006). "Sikh Art & Architecture". International Bibliography of Sikh Studies. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 267. ISBN   9781402030444.
  2. ↑ Singh, Roopinder (23 November 2007). "Symposium on Punjab murals". roopinder.com. Retrieved 21 November 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Punjab Gaurav Sanmaan 2020: Dr. Kanwarjit Singh Kang – Art Historian". Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi State Academy of Art. Retrieved 21 November 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Kang, Kanwarjit Singh (2022). "Preface". Vanished and Vanishing Wall Paintings of Punjab and Haryana. Unistar Books Pvt. Limited. ISBN   9789352055869.
  5. ↑ Kaur, Maneet (28 November 2018). "Mohrakashi and the Naqqashes of Harmandir Sahib - Module". Sahapedia. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  6. 1 2 Gupta, Anandita (22 June 2007). "Clicking Culture - Punjab's ancient walls form the canvas for this photographer's creativity". The Tribune. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
  7. ↑ "ਚਿੱਠੀ-ਪੱਤਰ | ਸਾਵਣ-ਭਾਦੋਂ 549 Newsletter | Jul-Aug 2017". Panjab Digital Library. Jul–Aug 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
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