Skip to main content
TRIS logo image
Pilloo Pochkhanawala — featured artwork

Introduction

Date of Birth
01 Apr 1923
Zodiac sign
Aries
Date of Death
1985
Age
61
Place of Birth
Bombay, Maharashtra, India
Place of Death
Bombay, Maharashtra, India
Spouse(s)
Rattan pochkhanawala
Children
Daughter meher
State Country of Birth
Maharashtra, India
State Country of Death
Maharashtra, India

Exhibitions

  1. 1955

    1. Mumbai, India
  2. 1957

    1. Mumbai, India
  3. 1961

    1. Mumbai, India
  4. 1962

    1. 28 ft. sculpture commissioned by the Natural Gas Co., Mumbai, India
  5. 1963

    1. Sculpture sent as India's entry to Commonwealth Art Today, London, U.K.
  6. 1965

    1. Mumbai, India
    2. New Delhi, India
  7. 1967

    1. Sculpture exhibited in Belgrade, Bangkok, and Tokyo, Japan
  8. 1968

    1. Exhibited at the First Triennale–India, New Delhi, India
    2. New Delhi, India
  9. 1969

    1. Sculpture exhibited as India's entry at the São Paulo Biennale
  10. 1970

    1. Invited to England by the British Council to meet their leading sculptors
    2. Participated in the Contemporary Art Exhibition at the Ashoka Gallery, New Delhi, India
    3. 30 ft. open-air sculpture in the city square executed for the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking of the Bombay Municipal Corporation
  11. 1971

    1. Sculpture exhibited as India's entry at the São Paulo Biennale
  12. 1972

    1. Large bronze sculpture commissioned by Ceat Tyres of India
  13. 1973

    1. Mumbai, India
  14. 1974

    1. Sculpture exhibited as India's entry at the Asiatic Biennale of Outdoor Sculpture at Middelheim, Belgium
    2. Gallery Chemould, Prescott Road, Mumbai, India
  15. 1976

    1. Executed a large aluminium alloy sculpture for the Television Centre, Mumbai, to depict the ancient and modern forms of communication
  16. 1978

    1. Invited as India's sole representative to the Strumica Art Colony under the Indo-Yugoslav Cultural Exchange Programme
  17. 1979

    1. National Exhibition of Art – Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, India
    2. Open-Air Sculpture Exhibition, Mumbai, India
    3. Drawings exhibition, Minnetonka Art Centre, U.S.A.
    4. Meta Morphosis, executed for the Groves Learning Centre, Minnetonka, U.S.A., as artist-in-residence
  18. 1980

    1. Exhibition of sculptures and drawings at the Katherine Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, U.S.A.
  19. 1982

    1. New Delhi, India
    2. New Delhi, India
  20. 1984

  21. 1987

    1. Indian Women Sculptors - In Celebration of International Women's Day, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, India
  22. 1996

  23. 2013

    1. No Parsi Is an Island – Parsi Encounters: Parsi Traders and the Community, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai
  24. 2016

    1. No Parsi Is an Island – Parsi Encounters: Parsi Traders and the Community, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
  25. 2023

    1. Remembering: 60 Years of Gallery Chemould, group show, Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, India
Pochkhanawala, Pilloo (Artist). Sculptures, 1973 | Solo Exhibition Catalogue | 00882569
1 / 5

Pochkhanawala, Pilloo (Artist). Sculptures, 1973 | Solo Exhibition Catalogue | 00882569

Chronicled Highlights

7 entries
Pilloo Pochkhanawala
1923Born
Pilloo Pochkhanawala
Pilloo Pochkhanawala was born in 1923 in Bombay, Maharashtra, India.
Pochkhanawala, Pilloo (Artist). Untitled. Teakwood, c.1950s | Sculpture  | 00867734
Pochkhanawala, Pilloo (Artist). Untitled. Teakwood, c.1950s | Sculpture | 00867734
In 2020, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Untitled (1955), offered in the Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art by Sotheby's, which concluded on 29 September 2020 at London, achieving a sale price of ₹77,78,075.76 ($105,319.63). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.
Pochkhanawala, Pilloo (Artist). Untitled. Pen & ink on paper board, 1973 | Painting | FineArts | 00352249
Pochkhanawala, Pilloo (Artist). Untitled. Pen & ink on paper board, 1973 | Painting | FineArts | 00352249
Today pollution is a major hazard in industrialized society and ecologists are seriously concerned at the ruthless rate at which man is destroying his environment. In India this pollution is in the form of ugliness and a sterility towards beauty, which is changing the pattern of life. Throughout the centuries, art has been closely integrated into the pattern of Indian life. Art is not an embellishment, it is a way of life. Routine is a deadening thing and an urge to respond to creative activity is a very strong one and if suppressed over a long period must lead to psychological imbalance. Man is born with two strong urges, survival and procreation and art stems from the urge to create. When I say art, I do not mean entertainment or escapism, I mean that object, or activity which stirs, stimulates, disturbs or refreshes the emotion of man. I do not think that there is any humanbeing who is so self-contained that he can live, in harmony, without the stimulus of Art.
Pochkhanawala, Pilloo (Artist). Atomic Couple. Scrap metal and stones, c.1974 | Sculpture | FineArts | 00547616
Pochkhanawala, Pilloo (Artist). Atomic Couple. Scrap metal and stones, c.1974 | Sculpture | FineArts | 00547616
In 2021, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Atomic Couple (1974), offered in the Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art by Sotheby's, which concluded on 26 October 2021 at London, achieving a sale price of ₹2,86,72,653.24 ($381,708.11). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.
Pochkhanawala, Pilloo (Artist). Assassination. Cement, metal and painted fibreglass, 1981 | Sculpture | FineArts | 00341412
Pochkhanawala, Pilloo (Artist). Assassination. Cement, metal and painted fibreglass, 1981 | Sculpture | FineArts | 00341412
In 2019, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Assassination (1981), offered in the Evening Sale by Saffronart, which concluded on 12 September 2019 at New Delhi, achieving a sale price of ₹50,40,000 ($70,986). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.
Pochkhanawala, Pilloo (Artist). Cloud Burst. Aluminium alloy, 1983 | Sculpture | FineArts | 00362207
Pochkhanawala, Pilloo (Artist). Cloud Burst. Aluminium alloy, 1983 | Sculpture | FineArts | 00362207
I have almost a pagan worship for the elements. This may probably be an unconscious surrender to our Zoroastrian religion where the dominant factor in our Temple has been the Fire, which has held me fascinated from childhood. Many years later this has terminated in my metal sculptures, ‘Sun-Blast’, ‘Flame’ and others...Texture can evoke every subtle nuance of human emotions and I have used it lavishly in my Metal-Scapes. All the scars, scratches and corroded surfaces on my aluminium sculpture act as my personal signature.
Pochkhanawala, Pilloo (Artist). Pilloo Pochkhanawala - A Retrospective 1952 -1984. Bombay: Gallery Chemould, 1984 | Solo Exhibition Catalogue  | 00882571
Pochkhanawala, Pilloo (Artist). Pilloo Pochkhanawala - A Retrospective 1952 -1984. Bombay: Gallery Chemould, 1984 | Solo Exhibition Catalogue | 00882571
In 1984, Pilloo Pochkhanawala A Retrospective 1952 -1984 marked a major milestone in the exhibition history of Pilloo Pochkhanawala, offering a retrospective survey of the artist's artistic production
Heart (Auction House) and Neville Tuli (Curator). The Intuitive-Logic II - Modern & Contemporary Indian Paintings, Drawings, Graphics, Sculpture & Tapestry. 15 November 1997, Mumbai | Auction Catalogue | EconomicsArt | 00861853
1 / 2
Heart (Auction House) and Neville Tuli (Curator). The Intuitive-Logic II - Modern & Contemporary Indian Paintings, Drawings, Graphics, Sculpture & Tapestry. 15 November 1997, Mumbai | Auction Catalogue | EconomicsArt | 00861853
On 15 November 1997, made their debut in the Indian public auction market when Seascape I was presented as Lot in The Intuitive-Logic II: Modern & Contemporary Indian Paintings, Drawings, Graphics, Sculpture & Tapestry, conducted by HEART in Mumbai, India. This auction marked the artist's first recorded appearance in the public auction market, establishing the earliest chapter of their auction history.

Economics of Art

Research Centre