Chandrakant Mandare was a well-known Marathi film actor and a painting artist. Born and brought up in Kolhapur, Chandrakant Mandare joined the “Maharashtra Company” of Baburao Painter where he used to work as an artist, painting posters for Marathi Films produced and directed by the famous Baburao Painter. In all he had made around 350-400 paintings using varied mediums like water colour, oil, acrylic and powder-shading. He liked painting Nature, portraits, landscapes. He did a lot of on-the-spot outdoor paintings on his visits across India, Nepal, USA and France, especially between breaks in his film shooting schedules. From 1977, there is an award instituted in his name, for the best artwork and artist of the year.
The art gallery displays some of the stills from Mandare’s movies, his paintings and sketches. The art gallery is part of the residential premises of the Mandare family at Nisarga Bungalow, 7th Lane Rajarampuri, Kolhapur City. The art gallery has been generously donated by him to the Archaeological Department, Government of Maharashtra. When in the city, this boutique art gallery is worth a look.