Krishnaji Howlaji Ara was an Indian painter and is seen as the first contemporary Indian painter to meticulously use the female nude as a subject. He was a part of the Progressive Artists' Group in Bombay.

Ara earned a living by cleaning cars and later found employment with an English family as a houseboy. While employed he nevertheless found time to engage with his passion for painting and it soon caught the attention of Rudy von Leyden, an art critic from the Times of India, and Walter Langhammer, the Editor of the Illustrated Weekly of India. Langhammer was so impressed by Ara's skill that he had him enrolled at the J.J. School of Art.

Ara began his career doing landscapes and paintings on socio-historical themes, but he is best known for his still life and nude paintings. While he initially used watercolors and gouaches, where his use of the impasto effect often made them resemble oil paintings, he later moved on to the use of oil paints. Ara work reflected a deep influence of French modern artists, especially Paul Cezanne.