Pralhad Anant Dhond

Dhond was born in 1908 in Ratnagiri. he was Dean of Sir J. J. School of Art, Mumbai. He retired as the Director of Art Maharashtra State in 1969. His work spans over seven decades and includes over 7,000 landscapes. Dhond chose the medium of watercolour for his transparent yet fascinating depiction of various moods of nature and was known as one of the leading water-colourists of India. A strong believer in artistic tradition, Dhond, always considered the landscape of Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, where he grew up, as the most formative influence on his artistic sensibility. He says about his work It is only after devoting a lifetime to water colours that I have mastered the medium. At the age of 92, he visited the Kerala backwaters and had almost completed his series on God own country at the time of his death. He recalls his journey as an artist in his autobiography Raapan.