Chitra Ramanathan was born as Chitra Subramanyam (given name, Parvati) in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, South India, to Sarasa and L.N.Subramanyam.[8] She started doodling, painting, and crafting with clay at a young age.[9][10] By the age of twelve, she had won a number of coloring-in awards from corporate sponsors including Hindustan Unilever Limited.[11][4] Her paintings had also been presented at the Birla Academy of Arts and Culture in Kolkata, India.[12]
In October 2004, a pair of large-sized paintings created by Chitra Ramanathan commissioned by MGM Mirage, now MGM Resorts International were installed in the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.[19][20] Among her other public-art projects was a 13.8-foot-wide (4.2 m) mural painting commissioned by Crooked Creek Elementary School, Indianapolis, Indiana completed in 2008, and large-scale paintings created in varied dimensions displayed in Monument Circle, Indianapolis in 2006 a public art initiative by the Arts Council of Indianapolis titled "Picture Windows 2006: Urban Interpretations".
In 2005, she was invited to the Royal Academy of Arts, London, where she gave a visual presentation of her series of abstract paintings and conducted student tutorials at the Royal Academy Schools during the academic visit.[24][25][26]
International Dictionary of Artists – Artists' Reference Book, First Edition, 2011. Museum quality. Language: English. Full Color. Size: 10" x 13" inches or 25 x 33 cm.Hard cover. Curator: Despina Tunberg. Publisher: World Wide Art Books
Lemonidou, Eve; Antoniadou, Olga (2010). International contemporary artists. New York, N.Y.: ICA Publishing. ISBN978-960-93-2298-0
Biography, Marquis Publications Who's Who in America 2008, 62nd Edition
"The Artists Bluebook 2004", Directory of American Artists from the 16th Century to August 2004"- by Lonnie Pierson Dunbier, editor,www.askART.com "Books on this artist".
Publication: "Abstracts", a publication of the College Art Association "World Art: A Panhuman Narrative for Egalitarian Teaching" Co Chair, Art History Session: Presentation: "World Art: A Panhuman Narrative for Egalitarian Teaching" by Barbara Nesin and Chitra Ramanathan, Committee on Diversity Practices- College Art Association (http://www.collegeart.org/) 96th Annual Conference, Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, USA 2008.
^GO Visual Arts, Indianapolis Star, July 28, 2006:Article: "City walkers get art views" – "Picture Windows Project makes galleries out of public spaces" by S.L.Berry