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Pran Nath Mago was born August 22, 1923 (2006) in a small town in Western Punjab called Gujarkham. Mago was lucky to have family and teachers who instilled a love of creativity and expression from a young age. His work was routed in “janambhoomi” meaning birthplace which allowed him to explore and connect with folk art and contemporary art across the globe (Singh, P., 161). Mago studied at the Sir JJ School of Art before the partition, in which he was granted freedom to express himself.

Mago began painting in Lahore and moved to Delhi post partition, upon his arrival in Lahore, Mago joined the All India Fine Arts & Crafts Society (AIFACS) which operated from 1948-9. When its affairs were not art motivated, Mago resigned and began to lay the groundwork for the group Delhi SIlpi Chakra artist collective. Along with Kanwal Krishna, KS Kukarni, BD Sanyal and Dhan Raj Bhagat, the group known as the Chakra grew and attracted young artists with high aspirations (Mago). The Chakra’s intentions were clear;

“The group recognizes art as an activity must not be divorced from life; that the art of a nation must express the soul of its people and ally with the process of progress. The group recognizes that artists have to come together to work hard towards the progress of art and through art help build up a virile national culture and brighter life in the country.”
(Mago, via "Delhi Sipli Chakra")

Mago is regarded highly as an art critic and art historian and even published a book called Contemporary Art in India: a Perspective (figure 4) in hopes to bring awareness to modern art in India. In Rajiv Lochan’s review of Mago’s book, he states that Mago conceptualizes art in a historical and personal account, making the book a resource to both academics and the everyday art aficionado (Lochan, 200). Mago’s account of art history extends to the Bengal School, to Calcutta and to Bombay and his own collective, the Delhi Silpi Chakra. Mago became a driving force of the belief that “art must not be divorced from life and Art of a nation must express the soul of its people apart from allying with the process of progress” (Mago). He believed that art was created for everyone to enjoy.

Further, Mago’s addition to the art community is seen in his position as a professor at the University of New Delhi with experience in painting and served as an advisor to the Government of Malta on setting up an Arts and Crafts school (Singh, P., 163). Between the years, 1948-1951, Mago consulted with the government school, which would conduct "five-year diploma courses in Painting, Sculpture, and Commercial Art, besides five-year diploma courses in five arts and crafts: ironsmithy, metal-craft, wood-craft, lacquer-turning and enamel jewellery.' Besides this the school also introduced the study of the culture of the country" (Bala). As seen, Mago's influence extends far past creating art, as well as the fostering the development of artistic practices in India.

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Pran Nath Mago is an important force in Indian art, design and art criticism, for documenting and sharing his experience with the Partition of India in 1947. Mago’s contribution to the “contemporary Art scene of Punjab and its development in the Post-Independence period” was critical in many different elements of arts and culture. Mago has “deep roots in Punjabi culture and got national and international recognition with [his] techniques and concepts” (Bhandari, 34).

Mago’s artwork is known for its eminence of depiction of significant moments in history.  His paintings, in particular, Farewell (figure 1) captures the tragedy of thousands of Punjabi soldiers who laid down their lives [..] on foreign battle fronts” (Singh, G). His work captured human suffering and portrayed the soul of the Punjabi people he represented in his paintings.  It is noted by Gurdeep Singh that Mago could speak Punjabi fluently, but he could not read or write it. The poet, Amarjit Chandan wrote a moving essay on Mago’s painting called Nishani in 1997. In this essay, Chandan expresses the profound impact of the partition on the Punjab, describing the the British’s actions as “dismembering” India in 1947 (Chandan). Mago praised for Chandan for his writing and bringing words to the struggle of Indians during the Partition.

In his group exhibitions, Mago’s work was singled out by a newspaper article in February of 1957 for his study of a buffalo and a boy with a pipe. Overall, the exhibition was praised for its sketches of bright colours, with a wide range of sketches ("ART"). On the same day, The Hindusan newspaper, promised an exciting exhibition full of reasonably priced pieces, “that […] could easily attract the middle-class buyer. It was important to the Chakra for art to be accessible for all, making the group an important force to bring awareness to contemporary art in India ("Exciting Exhibition of Sketches").

Even further, Mago was involved in making Indian art and design for utilitarian purposes. At the Delhi Centre, Mago would take his personal experience for “refiguring pre-modern manuscript traditions into a modernist visual language […] The distinctiveness of the objects produced at this Center was illustrative of his interest in combining traditional arts with an international modernist repertoire” (Gupta, 168).

“Like all creative activity it is highly appropriate that contemporary art in India has developed by drawing together the many threads of both Indian and European art traditions. We are hopefully reaching a stage when India art will reveal a dignified unity of purpose, Contemporary Indian art is, indeed, destined for great achievements as the artist looks back to the glorious past in an attempt to recreates it on a grand scale”
(Singh, P., pg. 164. Quoting Mago).

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As discussed above, Farwell, is an important and career defining moment for Pran Nath Mago which launched his art and vision on to the world stage. The image depicts civilians and soldiers, experiencing religious strife and violence. The Partition of the Punjab dislocated many families, causing “the largest mass migration in human history of some 10 million” led to nearly 1 million civilian deaths (Bates).

Farewell was created in 1945 at the end of World War II, in which the British rule was feeling over-extended by its empire and the furthering tensions between the Hindu and Muslim population.

In the piece, Mago portrays the dislocation, as families are sharing a tearful goodbye as soldiers pack belongings on to the train the background. Everywhere in the image there is a military presence; showing more soldiers than citizens. Further, the immediate foreground shows a soldier taking a woman’s shoes the very top of the painting there is soldiers walking up a bridge. The city depicted in the piece is overwhelmed and overrun with military rule and train moving diagonally across the painting guides the viewers eye across every inch of the canvas. The citizens depicted in the immediate foreground have been subject to military violence, the women just off centered has lost her shoes and the Mago places the soldier between her and her family to create distance and show the anguish they are feeling. The soldier acts as a literal and figurative barrier presented in the painting of partition. The colours in the piece are muted and muddy, creating a dark and gloomy vision of the city.

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1. Farwell, 1945 By Pran Nath Mago (Collection Punjabi Collection)

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1. Farwell, 1945 By Pran Nath Mago (Collection Punjabi Collection)

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2. Two Untitled Works, 1946, By Pran Nath Mago (for auction)

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2. Two Untitled Works, 1946, By Pran Nath Mago (for auction)

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3. Mourners, 1947 By Pran Nath Mago (National Gallery of Modern Art)

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3. Mourners, 1947 By Pran Nath Mago (National Gallery of Modern Art)

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4. Cover of Contemporary Art in India: A Perspective, by Pran Nath Mago. Published 2001

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1. Farwell, 1945 By Pran Nath Mago (Collection Punjabi Collection)
Image: http://amarjitchandan.tripod.com/id13.html

2. Two Untitled Works, 1946, By Pran Nath Mago (for auction)
Image: https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/TWO-UNTITLED-WORKS/6FAAA7EA89915848

3.Mourners, 1947 By Pran Nath Mago (National Gallery of Modern Art)
Image: https://www.kirrt.org/painters/pran-nath-mago

4. Cover of Contemporary Art in India: A Perspective, by Pran Nath Mago. Published 2001
Image: https://www.exoticindiaart.com/book/details/contemporary-art-in-india-perspective-IDD753/

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"ART." The Statesman, 23 Feb. 1957. Print. Accessed online via: https://criticalcollective.in/ArtistGInner2.aspx?Aid=224&amp;Eid=199

Bates, Crispin, Dr. "The Hidden Story of Partition and Its Legacies." BBC History Online. 3 Mar. 2011. Web. 07 Dec. 2020.

Bala, Anju. "The Government School of Art and Craft, Shimla: An Overview." Sahapedia. 10 Apr. 2019. Web. 07 Dec. 2020.

Bhandari, Karuna, “A Brief History of Contemporary Art of Punjab,” Artistic Narration 2018, Vol. IX, No.1, pp.34-41. http://anubooks.com/?page_id=485

Chandan, Amarjit. "Punjabi Poetry on War." Writings of Amarjit Chandan. Apr. 2008. Web. 07 Dec. 2020.

"Exciting Exhibition of Sketches." The Hindustan Times, 23 Feb. 1957. Print. Accessed online via: https://criticalcollective.in/ArtistGInner2.aspx?Aid=224&amp;Eid=199

Gupta, Atreyee. "The Promise of the Modern: State, Culture, and Avant-gardism in India (ca. 1930-1960)." Diss. U of Minnesota, 2011. Print.

Lochan, Rajiv. “Art Born of Personal Experience.” India International Centre Quarterly, vol. 28, no. 3, 2001, pp. 199–202. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23005575. Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

Mago, Pran Nath. "Delhi Sipli Chakra." 2001. Web. 07 Dec. 2020. Excerpt from "Contemporary Art in India: A Perspective" by Pran Nath Mago, 2001, pg 71-73

Mago, Pran Nath. Contemporary Art in India: A Perspective. New Delhi: National Book Trust, 2001.

Singh, Gurdeep. "PRAN NATH MAGO." KIRRT. 28 May 2020. Web. 07 Dec. 2020.

Singh, Prem. "A Painter of Our Times: Pran Nath Mago 1923-2006." In Remembrance, pg. 159-164. Web. 07 Dec. 2020. &lt;https://punjab.global.ucsb.edu/sites/default/files/sitefiles/journals/volume14/no1/14.1_Remembrance.pdf&gt;.