Nurturing Artists since 1926
Heritage | Culture | Excellence

Established in 1926 by the eminent National Artist Sarada Charan Ukil, under the inspiration of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, and with the support of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, the Sarada Ukil School of Art (SUSA) is one of India's most distinguished institutions for art education, founded with the enduring mission of preserving and perpetuating the traditions of the Bengal School of Art.

Formally registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act (XXI) of 1860 on 6th February 1947, the institution has maintained an unbroken legacy of artistic excellence spanning nearly a century. The founding Ukil brothers made seminal contributions to India's cultural landscape — establishing the All India Fine Arts and Craft Society, co-founding the National Lalit Kala Academy, and launching Roop Lekha, the first art journal in Northern India.

Throughout its storied history, SUSA has been privileged to be associated with some of the finest names in Indian art, including Sailoz Mukherjee, Ramkumar, B.C. Sanyal, Biswanath Mukherjee, and the legendary Amrita Shergill, among others, while the school was regularly visited by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Chandra Shekhar, and many other prominent personalities.

Over the decades, SUSA has proudly produced generations of accomplished teachers, independent artists, and media professionals who continue to uphold and advance India's vibrant visual arts tradition on national and global stage.

The Legacy of Our Artistry

Sarada Charan Ukil

Born on 14 November 1888 in Bikrampur near present-day Dhaka, Sarada Ukil later moved to Calcutta (Kolkata) with his family and studied at the city’s Government Art School under Abanindranath Tagore.

Sarada Ukil moved to New Delhi in 1918 and joined Lala Raghubir Singh’s school, today known as Modern School, as an art teacher. He simultaneously started Sarada Ukil School of Art on Janpath, New Delhi, in 1926, and along with his brothers Barada and Ranada, Sarada founded the All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society in New Delhi in 1928.

An actor, Sarada, was cast as Gautam Buddha’s father, King Shuddhodhana, in German director Franz Osten’s 1925 silent film, Light of Asia. He would go on to paint an entire series on the life of the Buddha, generally considered his masterpiece. However, only one original painting from the series, Buddha in Death Bed, survives, housed in the Salarjung Museum, Hyderabad; the rest survive only as photographs or postcards.

His paintings were drawn from religious and mythological stories, executed in the soft hues of the wash technique. Sadly, Sarada Ukil passed away at the early age of fifty-two on 21 July 1940 in New Delhi.