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Salman Rushdie ('The Moor')

3 of 7 portraits of Salman Rushdie

© estate of Bhupen Khakhar

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Salman Rushdie ('The Moor')

by Bhupen Khakhar
oil on linen, 1995
48 in. x 48 in. (1219 mm x 1219 mm)
Purchased, 1995
Primary Collection
NPG 6352

On display in Room 28 on Floor 2 at the National Portrait Gallery

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Bhupen Khakhar (1934-2003), Painter. Artist or producer of 1 portrait.

This portraitback to top

This portrait is entitled Salman Rushdie: The Moor, and celebrates his novel, The Moor's Last Sigh (1995, Whitbread Prize) with the author surrounded by scenes from his novel.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • 100 Writers, p. 143
  • Rab MacGibbon, National Portrait Gallery: The Collection, p. 107
  • Saumarez Smith, Charles, The National Portrait Gallery: An Illustrated Guide, 2000, p. 235
  • Saumarez Smith, Charles, The National Portrait Gallery, 1997, p. 235 Read entry

    Salman Rushdie came to the Gallery for a party in July 1995 and mentioned that he was being painted by the prominent Indian painter Bhupen Khakar for a BBC documentary due to be shown in early September to coincide with the publication of his book The Moor's Last Sigh. The portrait, entitled Salman Rushdie: The Moor, was shown at the Gallery in September 1995 and the Trustees acquired it at their meeting in November. It is particularly appropriate as a way of showing Rushdie, as it combines the Western tradition of portraiture with elements of Mughal painting, including narrative scenes derived from The Moor's Last Sigh round the edge.

  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 538

Placesback to top

  • Place portrayed: India (Cochin, Kerela)
  • Place portrayed: India (Mumbai, Maharashtra)

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Events of 1995back to top

Current affairs

Nick Leeson is imprisoned for four years after he is found to have hidden $1.4 billion in debt. Leeson acted as a 'rogue trader' by dealing in futures and options on the Tokyo stock exchange without the authority of Barings Bank who he was working for. After an earthquake in Japan the market took a massive downturn and Barings - Britain's oldest bank - went bankrupt.

Art and science

Two classic Britpop singles fight for the number 1 spot when Blur releases Country House on the same day as Oasis's Roll With It. Although Blur sold more copies of their single, Oasis eclipsed them when their album (What's the Story) Morning Glory became the forth best selling UK album of all time.
Jonathan Edwards breaks the world record for triple jump twice in once day.

International

Over 8000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys are murdered by the Bosnian Serb army in the Srebrenica Massacre. The genocide was part of Serbia's ethnic cleansing campaign to remove the Bosniak population from the Serb Republic. It was the largest mass-murder in Europe since World War II.
12 people die, and 54 are seriously injured when members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult release Sarin gas into the Tokyo subway.

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