"The time has passed for artists to be patronized. They must now have a standing of their own."

Kattingeri Krishna Hebbar was born in 1911 at Kattingeri in the Udupi district of Karnataka. His father used to make clay idols of Lord Ganesha during festivals and his background in folk art helped Hebbar decide that he wanted to pursue art as a career. Despite training in the Western tradition, Hebbar remained rooted to the folk tradition. After some initial training in Mysore and later in Mumbai at the Sir J.J. School of Art, he started his career as an art instructor at the Sir J. J. School of Art between 1940-45. He then went to Europe and decided to study art in Academy Julian in Paris. Among several important shows both in India and abroad, Hebbar had participated in international exhibitions like the Venice Biennale, the Sao Paulo Biennale and the Tokyo Biennale.

During his early years that are known as his Kerala years (because he painted the landscapes of this state extensively), Hebbar was highly influenced by Gaugin and Amrita Sher Gill. His body of work created during this period, covering more or less a decade, starting from 1946, is considered extremely influential in Indian art history. Hebbar is also renowned for his excellent draughtsmanship.

Hebbar, in all his career, never ceased to experiment, and was enriched in his perspective by visiting the ancient caves at Karla, in Maharashtra. One of his resultant sketches got him a gold medal from the Bombay Art Society. Combined with forceful strokes, his style is both impressionistic and expressionistic. A strong social concern made him focus on subjects like poverty, hunger and the destruction wrought by nuclear weapons. At the other end of the spectrum lie his paintings capture dance performances. He studied Kathak, and many of his paintings portray dancers and performers.

He was first exposed to an international audience in 1965 during the exhibition "Art Now in India", in London and Brussels.

Hebbar always held that an artist's role was to tell the truth about his feelings without any dilution. Due to his opposition to the politicization of art, he never joined any of the many artists groups; yet he played an important part in the organization of artists in Bombay. He was closely associated with the Jehangir and Chemould art galleries in the city.

Hebbar won many awards. The important ones include the gold medal from the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkta, the Bombay Art Society Award, the award from the Union Government, the Bombay State Award, the Lalit Kala Akademi Award, the Padma Shree, Padma Bhushana, Varna Shilpi K Venkatappa Award, an honorary doctorate from Mysore University, the Soviet Land Nehru Award, and the Kannada Award.