Artist G.S. Sohan Singh was born in August 1914. His interest in art was inherited from his talented artist father S. Gian Singh” Naqqash” , Fresco Artist of The Golden Temple, Amritsar. In 1929 he joined the Art Company of S.Hari Singh, and in 1931 after visiting Delhi and Bombay and The port of Calcutta, he came back Amritsar where he accompanied his father’s work at Bazaar Sodhian.
The Artist’s father had by that time retired from his service in the Golden Temple Amritsar and both father and son started painting religious themes, preparing charts for students as well as framing pictures. Thus the wheel of life started moving slowly but surely on the road to Art.
The first multi-colored design that was got printed and marketed by the Artist in 1932 was that of undaunted hero, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur. Encouraged by its popularity, the Artist prepared about 3 new designs every year, got their blocks prepared at Lahore, printed them and marketed them. The standard of Artist’s workmanship was generally more than compatible with the other religious pictures in the market, and this brought his name “G.S.Sohan Singh” into limelight in the art world, and he started getting assignments frequently.
From 1931 to 1946 he was doing his art work framing pictures, selling glass Indian and foreign reproductions in bulk as well as in retail. Being religious minded and God fearing by nature however and as such unaware of business mechanization he was just making both ends meet.
During the partition days with resultant rights the above activities ceased. Some of the relatives, who had lost their all, further pressed the almost out of job artists with the increased burden of expenditure with the result that his meager resources were spent up. Subsequently when normalcy was restored the artist determined to concentrate only on art work, The artist started getting commissions from vernacular papers “Ajit” and “Vir Bharat”(of Lahore) and “Sher bharat” of Amritsar and other periodicals, apart from labels and designs for boxes from the Industrial Sector.
The death of Artist’s mother (1951) and father (30/9/1953) caused a profound depression in the Artist’s mind. However , at the instance of Giani Harinder Singh ‘Roop’ , poet, writer and Art critic , The Artist made up his mind to compile some of the exquisite works of his late father into book form. Here again came the setback, as a result of Giani ji’s death in 1954. However, with the selfless help and guidance of Sh. P. Verma, it was possible to publish the book “Gian Chitravali” by name in 1956, as a commemoration to the Artist’s late father who had been a beacon light in the realm of Fresco painting. This afforded the Artist an opportunity of gaining proficiency in the Block line. This technique has been passed on by him to his son Mr Surinder Singh who ranks amongst experts in line blocks, monochrome and tri color halftone blocks, photography etc.
The Artist has, since 1931, tackled multi farious subjects in the field of Art eg. calendar designs, oil and water color paintings, commercial labels , designs for book jackets and subject illustrations, designs, newpaper advertisement designs apart from very fine themes in the ild kangra style, pahari and mughal styles as well as in the techniques connected with the sikh school of painting founded by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He successfully carried out assignments in landscape paintings, Indian monuments, portraits and imaginative subjects.
During recent years he carried out commissions from local akharas (Acclesiactical Institutions) depicting scenes from episodes connected with the lives of saints and religious leaders-a rarer feature in the Art work.
He has to his credit dozens of gold and silver medals , cash prizes as well as commendations of certificates as won by him in a number of Art exhibitions held from time to time though out the country. In April, 1968, at the occasion of conferring on Punjabi the distinction of state language for this region, the Artist was awarded Rs. 500 as well as certificate of merit in recognition of his service as a “Master Artist” at Chandigarh. Recently, in Oct ,1970, he was honored as a devoted Artist at the Ramgharia Educational silver jubilee conference at Ludhiana.
For a number of years he had continued as a member and life member of the Governing body of the Indian Academy of Fine Arts, Amritsar, and had acted as a judge for the grant of awards on selected exhibits. He had held the offices of the President and General Secretary of the Ramgarhia Brotherhood, Amritsar (Regd.), from time to time.
A number of young aspirants had regularly and casually approached him for training in the Art line and had been successful. He ran a regular studio which is now situated in the brahm Buta Market , Near Sarai Guru Ram Das , Golden Temple Complex , Amritsar.
The Artist was blessed with three sons and two daughters. His eldest son Surinder Singh is a Graphic Artist and youngest son Satpal ‘Danish’ remained renowned photo journalist and has followed footsteps of his father in the Art line.
Books published by the Artist:
- Gian Chitravali-Master pieces of Bhai Gian Singh ‘Naqqash’
- Amritsar –The Sacred city of the Sikhs-On the Gurudwaras and temples of Amritsar.
- Holy places of Pilgrimage-also on the Gurudwaras.
- Revealing the Art of G.S.Sohan Singh.
G.S. Sohan Singh Artist remained in the Art line for about 70 years. He always preferred quality to quantity and it has always been his endeavour to achieve higher and higher standards in the sphere of Art.
G.S. Sohan Singh had a spiritual bent of mind since his childhood. There is long list of paintings made by him of various subjects such as Sikh Gurus, Sikh Generals and warriors, Gurudwaras, Saints, God-Godesses, Historical, Cultural and Monuments.