Following in the footsteps of fellow expatriate, Francis Newton Souza, painter Avinash Chandra left India for Britain in 1956, just two years after winning First Prize at the First National Art Exhibition of Art, in New Delhi. He soon became one of the first Indian artists to achieve widespread international recognition. In 1962, he was profiled by art historian W.G. Archer in a BBC documentary, which only increased his acclaim; he won the gold medal Prix Européen the same year. Three years later, he became the first Indian British artist exhibited at Tate Britain, in London.

Avinash Chandra was an Indian artist born in Simla, India in 1931. He graduated from the Delhi Polytechnic Art School in 1951 and gained recognition for his vibrant landscape paintings. Chandra moved to London in 1956 to further his artistic career and began studying philosophy, particularly Indian spiritual beliefs. He had his first British one-man exhibition in 1957 and gained further recognition when the BBC produced a documentary on his art in 1962. Chandra's fascination with the female form became a primary focus in his work from the mid-1960s. He achieved much acclaim during this decade and became the first Indian British artist to be featured at the Tate Gallery in London in 1965 when they purchased his painting Hills of Gold (1964).