Umesh Varma (1935–2019) was an Indian abstract painter, printmaker, ceramic artist, illustrator and writer, born in Banda, Uttar Pradesh. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Allahabad in 1957 before briefly studying medicine at King George's Medical College, Lucknow. Choosing to pursue art instead, he enrolled at the School of Art, Delhi Polytechnic, where he completed the National Diploma in Fine Arts in 1963. In 1964, he was awarded the Japanese Government Monbusho Research Fellowship, enabling him to study traditional ceramic techniques in Japan.

Initially trained in painting, Varma developed a distinctive abstract visual language informed by his scientific background and a sustained interest in the underlying energies of nature. Working across painting, printmaking, ceramics, illustration and graphic design, he explored themes of movement, growth, transformation and the interconnectedness of the natural world through dynamic abstract forms. Alongside his studio practice, he also worked as a visiting lecturer at the Delhi College of Art, and was active as a poet, art critic and writer.

Over the course of his career, Varma received numerous honours, including the National Academy Award for Painting from the Lalit Kala Akademi (2004), the AIFACS Camlin Award (1984), the Sailoz Prize (1962), the Lalit Kala Akademi Research Grant (1983), and a Senior Fellowship from the Department of Culture, Government of India (1983–1986). He presented several solo exhibitions and participated in more than sixty group exhibitions in India and abroad. Umesh Varma passed away in 2019, leaving behind a significant body of work that continues to contribute to the discourse on abstraction in modern Indian art.