Yashwant Mali was born in Bombay, British India (now Mumbai, India) in 1934. After establishing a reputation as an artist in his homeland, he moved to England in 1962, where he is mostly known for his central involvement in the Indian Painters Collective, later developed into the Indian Artists UK and Indian Arts Council, the first artist collectives of their kind in the UK.
Artist Yashwant Mali was born in Bombay, British India (now Mumbai, India) in 1934. He joined the Faculty of Fine Arts at Sir J.J. School of Art, Bombay, where he received a Diploma in Painting in 1956. The following year, he won a scholarship for postgraduate studies in mural painting, specialising in portraiture and winning the Bombay Art Society’s Gold Medal in 1960. He participated in many major exhibitions in India and won many awards. His first solo show was held at the Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay in 1961. The following year, he moved to England (Diaspora Artists).
In London, Mali joined multiple artist associations, starting with the Indian Painters Collective (IPC) in 1963, comprising Indian artists living and working in the capital. It was formally announced in 1964, following a meeting between Mali and other former members of the Bombay Art Society: Gajanan Bhagwat, Lancelot Ribeiro and Ibrahim Wagh. As Mali explained, ‘[We] realised that we had to fight to promote ourselves and that’s why we founded the group, some kind of force [… ] People never thought Indian artists could be contemporary. That was a shock’ (Moore, 2019). One of the key ventures of this group was an exhibition, Six Indian Painters, held at the Tagore India Centre, India House, London in 1964. Opened by the Indian High Commissioner, Dr Jivraj N. Mehta and Jennie Lee, then Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Public Buildings and Works, Mali showed his work alongside that of Bhagwat, Ribeiro, Wagh, and additional members, Balraj K. Khanna and S. V. Rama Rao. This was the first artistic collective of its kind outside of India, with the exhibition catalogue stating their mission was to hold ‘frequent exhibitions under their own auspices’ and also to ‘participate in other exhibitions here and on the continent’ to represent ‘a cross section of Indian painting today’ (Ribeiro, Art UK, 2019; Diaspora Artists). Mali co-organised other exhibitions, such as the 1974 Exhibition of Paintings at the Mandeer Gallery at the Mandeer Restaurant, Hanway Place, in London's Fitzrovia (the gallery was operated by Mali and Suresh Vedak from 1974–78). Between 1976 and 1978, Mali lived in Brighton and ‘the element of ‘Sea’ had entered into his work’ (Diaspora Artists).
By the late 1970s, IPC had contracted to just four artists (Khanna, Mali, Ribeiro and Wagh) and became the Indian Artists UK (IAUK). The new, revitalised collective sought to gain better access to public collections and grant-funding for its members. Full members were to have an already developed artistic profile and paid £20 annually, while associate members (students and ‘others’) and patrons were also invited to join. In 1977 the group forged relationships with The Commission for Racial Equality, The Arts Council and The Minorities’ Arts Advisory Service. IAUK secured another exhibition at India House, Four Leading Indian Artists in 1978, celebrated with a lavish party at a ‘grand house in Kensington Palace Gardens’, at which other London galleries attended (Ribeiro, Art UK, 2019). Mali exhibited again with the growing collective at the exhibition organised by the Rainbow Art Group (of which he was also a founding member) at the Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham in 1979, and Exhibition of Paintings by IAUK Indian Artists living in U.K. at Burgh House Museum, Hampstead, London in 1980. The exhibition catalogue referenced a wider initiative known as 'Indian Month' (January-February) and stated that ‘IAUK’s aims are the recognition of its members’ work on an equal basis with their British contemporaries and the fulfilment of their rights to the amenities and facilities available in the democratic society’, and that ‘through exhibitions at 8 South Audley Street, London W1, and other selected places, it will attempt to create a growing awareness of the Indian arts and culture among the general public’ (Diaspora Artists). Mali also exhibited in IAUK’s Between Two Cultures show at the Barbican Arts Centre, London in 1982, when he was also a member of the exhibition and selection committee (South Asian Diaspora Archive). The collective, renamed the Indian Arts Council in 1983, founded its affiliated Horizon Gallery at 70 Marchmont Street, Bloomsbury, London, which was active between 1987 and 1991, giving particular focus to artists of dual cultural identity, especially women of South Asian heritage (VADS Collection).
Yashwant Mali continues to live in England, creating primarily figurative paintings, often addressing women in traditional Indian dress. Most recently his works were shown in the Grosvenor Gallery’s The Roots of the Indian Artists’ Collectives in 2019, about which gallery partner Charles Moore stated that many of the participating artists ‘did not have the exposure their work deserved at the time’, and that their ‘story is a common one; of aesthetic unappreciation and discrimination’ (exhibition catalogue, 2019). Yashwant Mali's work is currently not represented in any UK public collections.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Yashwant Mali]
Publications related to [Yashwant Mali] in the Ben Uri Library