Narayan Shankar Bendre was born in 1910 in Indore. After completing his B.A. from Agra University, Bendre moved towards his calling and enrolled at the State Art School in Indore. Early works of Bendre show a very clear influence of the landscape styles of the Indore School.

After graduating from Indore, Bendre went to Bombay to study Art where he received the Govt. Diploma in Art and worked in the 1930’s. During this time his work got recognised and a silver medal from the Bombay Art Society in 1934 and the Gold medal in 1941 emphasized the recognition.

In the early 40’s Bendre worked as an Art Director for a film company in Madras, which added another dimension to an artist already experimenting in diverse fields.

The late 1940’s saw Bendre travelling extensively all over the world and imbibing the styles and thoughts of various cultures and schools. He dwelled into a wide variety of work, from Japanese painting styles to modernistic styles of the European masters to even printmaking. All these are manifested in his paintings of that time.

During the 40’s Bendre was also in Shantiniketan as Artist in Residence and this period saw his association with the great masters of that time, such as Nandalal Bose and Benode Behari Mukherjee. This influence also is seen in many of his paintings.

In 1950 Bendre joined M.S.U. Baroda as Reader and Head of Department of Painting of the Fine Arts Faculty and became Dean in 1959. During this time, Bendre was also part of the original group who set up the Lalit Kala Akademi. Also in 1956 Bendre helped in the formation of Baroda Group of Artists, which since then has seen, as members, many of our contemporary artists.

Bendre’s early work was dominated by landscapes and portraits, like many of his contemporaries. In the later years, he experimented with various forms from Cubism to Abstract and his paintings were proof of the strong impact of European art and his efforts to blend this influence with Indian motifs. And in spite of all the influences and experiments, all his paintings retained an Indian theme.

Bendre was awarded the Padmashri in 1969, and elected as the chairman of the International Jury at the second Indian Triennale in 1971. His journey saw him as fellow of the Lalit Kala Akademi in 1974, the Aban-Gagan Award and the Kalidas Samman in 1984.