SwissArtGallery · Documented identity

Mohan Samant

Died : 2004Documented citizenships : India

An Indian painter associated with the Progressive Artists’ Group during the 1950s, Mohan Samant developed a visual language informed by Indian miniatures, Egyptian hieroglyphs and ancient objects. His figures and signs bring together historical, spiritual and everyday references. Following several periods abroad, he settled permanently in New York in 1968 and died there in 2004. Changes of material accompanied his continuing exploration of images and the stories they might carry.

Green Square, dated March 1963 and held by MoMA, combines oil, resin and sand on canvas. In Abstract Signs and Temple Frieze, made in 1964 and now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he used oil, plaster, sand and charcoal. Its figures and columns of signs connect memories of temple architecture with the physical substance of painting.

This profile brings together identity references for Mohan Samant and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.

Documented auction references

1auction reference

1auction house

Germann

References include catalogue entries and available results; they do not all represent completed sales.

Works recorded at auction

Photograph : Germann · Enlarge image ↗

Germann

Untitled

Mixed media on board

Original catalogue wording

Untitled
Mischtechnik auf Karton.

Date to be documented

Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed

View the lot at the auction house ↗

Sources and references

Reference record
LoC · Reference link only; institutional text and images are not reproduced.
Met · CC0
Met · CC0
Met · CC0
Met · CC0
Documentary source
Documentary source
Documentary source

SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
Profile updated : 2026-10-22