S.L. Parasher was fated to a life of wide-swinging changes.  Born in  Gujaranwala, West Punjab (now Pakistan) on April 7,1904, he was the first son of a surgeon father and a wildly imaginative mother.  The visible and the real, and the ever–present beauty within both, were already occupying their parallel places in his life long before he took his Masters degree in English Literature at the Forman Christian College,Lahore in 1935. In 1936 Parasher joined the Mayo School of Art as a lecturer and vice principal. 

In 1938  he met Lajjya Kapila, who was staying with her uncle on a visit from Burma.  He knew immediately that she was the woman for him; they joined in a marriage that would last 52 years and raise four daughters and one son.  In 1947 their peaceful lives took the first of many turns; his first hope was that he could stay on in re-invented Pakistan.  As that became impossible, he and his growing family experienced an odyssey through the refugee camps to become the Founder Principal of the School of Arts, Simla in 1951.  After several years in the footfalls of the Himalayas, Parasher  moved south to Bombay as Director of the All India Handicrafts Board and settled finally in Delhi in the early 60s.  The house on South Extension in New Delhi, with its series of make-shift studios, is where he finally made a permanent home and realized most of his larger pieces of art. 

As his children grew and became independent, they began, in 1989, to realize their desire to build him a permanent studio.  This was going up, with all the associated dust and noise, as Parasher lay indoors struggling with leukemia.  By the time it was almost finished, he knew he would never use it.  Looking out into an ideal space at last, he said, “I was born to be a poor Brahmin.”

Born in Gujaranwala, West Punjab (now Pakistan) on April 7, 1904.

Lived in Lahore, Simla, Madras, Bombay and New Delhi

Education: Masters in English Literature, Forman Christian College, Lahore, 1935

Positions held:

Lecturer in Fine Arts and Crafts, Mayo School of Arts, Lahore, 1936

Vice-Principal, Mayo School of Arts, Lahore, 1936

Founder Principal, School of Arts, Simla (Punjab Government), 1951

Director, All India Handicrafts Board, Bombay, 1958

Solo exhibitions held in Bombay, New Delhi, Simla, Lahore, London, Frankfurt, Paris and Washington D.C.

Art works in the collection of Museum of Contemporary Art, New Delhi Museum of Modern Art, Chandigarh and in private collections in India, U.S.A., West Germany, Spain, Belgium, England, Netherlands and France.

 Public Art Work:

A memorial sculpture in Black granite stone of the Saint Musician Pdt. Vishnu Digamber Paluskar, New Delhi
Size: 12'
Commissioned by the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, New Delhi
Year: 1980

 A sculpture Mural in steel, Men's College, Chandigarh.
Size 100' x 23'
Architects: P. Jeannerette and B. P. Mathur
Design selected by Le Corbusier after an All India Design Contest.
Year: 1963

Two Sculpture Murals in Mosaic Concrete, Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi.
Size 40' x 80' and 40' x 20'
Architect: Billimoria
Selected by the Committee for Selection of Artists Government of India
Year: 1966-1967, Ceramic tiled in the 70's

Painting Mural in the Mathematics Faculty, Punjab University, Chandigarh.
Size 12' x 30'
Architect: B.P.Mathur
Selected by the Punjab University - Chandigarh
Year: 1973

Sculpture Mural in Brass, Copper and Steel, Kumar Art Gallery, Sunder Nagar, New Delhi.
Year: 1973

A fountain Sculpture in Metal, National Institute of Sugar Technology, Kanpur.
Size: 18'
Selected by the Committee for the Selection of Artists, Govt of India.
Year: 1968-1969

Ceramic Mural, Telecommunications Building, Janpath, New Delhi.
Size: 48' x 80'
Architects: Anand Aptay and Jabvala
Selected by the Committee for the Selection of Artists, Govt of India.
Year: 1970 - 1971

Sculpture in Stone, "Vishwamitra", University of Punjab.
Size: 8'
Commissioned by the University of Punjab

Landscape Sculpture, Leisure Valley, Museum of Modern Art, Chandigarh
Size: 16'
Architect: M.M. Sharma
Commissioned by the Capital Project Union Territory, Chandigarh.
Year: 1973 -1974

A Sculpture Symbol in Brass Sheet, "Bull Fight", New Delhi
Size: 26' x 9'
Architects: Anand Aptay and Jabvala
Commissioned by the Uttar Pradesh Pavillion at the World Agriculture Fair.
Year: 1959

A Sculpture Symbol in Beaten Copper, "A Farmer", New Delhi
Size: 9'
Architects: Anand Aptay and Jabvala
Commissioned by the Uttar Pradesh Pavillion at the World Agriculture Fair.
Year: 1959

A Composite Sculpture of two figures of Farmers in plaster of Paris New Delhi.
Architect: V.P. Dhameja
Commissioned by the Punjab Government Pavillion at the World Agriculture Fair.
Year: 1959

A Memorial Potrait in Bronze, "Lala Lajpat Rai", Jullunder City.
Commissioned by the Gulab Devi T.B. Hospital
Year: 1956