Kanha Babu Goel was an eminent art critic. He wrote extensively over a long period of time. He began writing in mid sixties at a time when Indian art was just beginning to wake up to new life and he continued till the end of the century. In the sixties there were very few art galleries, just two or three in each of the metropolitan cities like Delhi and Bombay. These galleries started holding art exhibitions somewhat regularly. Artists from smaller cities began to come and showcase their work in Delhi and Bombay creating scope for more galleries to come up. Lalit Kala Academy was set up and with increased activity in the art world there was a new unprecedented youthful excitement in the air.

At the same time, in the Western world, there was a surge of intense intellectual activity in the sphere of art and ideas, new aesthetic, philosophical and critical theories were being developed and debated, excitedly carried by literary journals and art magazines. Goel avidly followed these debates having been a regular subscriber to the English and American journals & magazines. He tried to apply these ideas and theories to the art issues in India in his writing. A large part of Goel’s writing has recently been compiled and published in book form entitled: K B Goel, Critical Writings in Art 1957–1998 by the Shergil Sundaram Art Foundation.

K.B. Goel passed away on January 5, 2018, deeply mourned by family and friends who felt that something had to be done to keep his memory alive, as a source of inspiration and also as a mark of reverence for his single minded devotion to the cause of art; his writing raised the status of art criticism to a serious aesthetic and intellectual activity, making it a subject of scholarly & philosophical speculation and of research. To make this seriousness about arts a part of general awareness amongst art lovers is the objective of KBGAF. Its purpose is to discover and lend moral and financial support to the discerning students of visual arts and art criticism throughout India.

Dr. Premlata Goel
Chairperson,
KB Goel Art Foundation