An artist who defies classification, J Sultan Ali was born in 1920 in Mumbai His family were not in favour of building a career in art but he went against his family and moved to Chennai to pursue painting at the Government College of Art in 1945

He gained a Diploma in Painting from the Government College of Arts and Crafts in Chennai Later, he worked as a senior instructor for one year in the same institute He continued his education and studied Textile Designing at the Government Textile Institute on a scholarship given by the Government of Madras He also pursued a photography course in London Like a lot of eminent artists during that time, he was trained under the prodigious sculptor DP Roy Chowdhury 

In 1954, he joined the Progressive Painter’s Association of Madras He stayed at Madanapalli for 6 years to teach at the Rishi Valley School 

The driving force behind his work was the inspiration he drew from the tribal art of India and the popular folk and mythological tales He was also motivated by Verrier Elwin for using symbols differently from the norms of classical art The art of Bastar community in particular, left a striking imprint on him So varied were his sources of inspiration that it is difficult to pin down exactly one form of folk art that inspired him Eventually, he discovered tribal art and was struck at its genuineness and freshness 

He can be read as an amalgamation of varied traditional sources which manifested itself in his popular Ganesha and Naga-Panchika series He also drew inspiration from Hindu mythology He admired its narrative, complexity, iconography and popularity among masses It led him to go back to the ancient time’s folk art of India  

Later in life, in order to further aid his pictorial language, he turned to calligraphic symbols and tried to imbibe and convey their philosophical depth in his own work 

He was honoured with the Lalit Kala Akademi Award in the year 1966 and 1978 He was appointed as the Exhibition director of the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi from 1954-1969 He also served as the President of the Artists Handicraft Association, Chennai from the year 1977 to 1980 and was honoured with the Senior Fellowship by the Government of India in the year 1988 

The artist passed away in the year 1990