Transcript
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EV ENI NG SA L EMUMBAI | LIVE
24 FEBRUARY 2016
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saffronart.com
E VE NING S ALEMUMBAI | LIVE
24 FEBRUARY 2016
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Cover (Detail)Lot 11
Back coverLot 39
Inside front coverLot 46
Inside back coverLot 68
Facing page (Detail)Lot 73
CONENS
6 SALES AND ENQUIRIES
12 HE AUCION CAALOGUE
172 FREQUENLY ASKED QUESIONS
175 CONDIIONS FOR SALE
181 ABSENEE/PROXY BID FORM
183 INDEX
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DINESH VAZIRANICo-founder
EDIORIAL EAM: Meera Godbole-Krishnamurthy, Rashmi Rajgopal, Eesha Patkar, Lani McGuinness and Rohan Khanna
FINANCE ENQUIRIES: Vinay Bhate and Anjali Ghatge
SHIPPING AND LOGISICS ENQUIRIES: Haresh Jiandani and Gaurav Yadav
DESIGN: Alka Samant, Jatin Lad and Gaurav Sharma
AUCION ENQUIRIES
Mumbai Email: auction@saffro nart.comel: +91 22 2432 2898 / 2436 4113 extension 203/209/205 | Fax: +91 22 2432 1187
New Delhi Email: delhi@saffronart.com | el: +91 11 2430 4458/ 2436 9415 | Fax: +91 11 2436 9416
USA Email: newyork@saffronart.com | el: +1 212 627 5006 | Fax: +1 212 627 5008
UK Email: london@saffronart.com | el: +44 20 7409 7974 | Fax: +44 20 7409 2854
INERNAIONAL SALES EAM AUCIONWednesday, 24 February 2016Registration: 6.30 pmAuction: 7.30 pm
Industry Manor, Ground Floor, Appasaheb Marathe Marg, Prabhadevi, Mumbai 400025
VIEWINGS AND PREVIEWS
AUCIONEERS
DINESH VAZIRANIHUGO WEIHE
NEW DELHIPreview and cocktailsTursday, 28 January 20167 pm onwards
Te Drawing Room
Te Oberoi, Dr. Zakir Hussain MargNew Delhi 110003, India
Viewings and Appointments28 January - 6 February 201610.30 am - 7 pm, Monday to SaturdaySunday by appointment
Saffronart
Te Drawing Room, Te OberoiDr. Zakir Hussain Marg, New Delhi 110003, India
MUMBAIPreview and cocktailsWednesday, 17 February 20167 pm onwards
SaffronartIndustry Manor, Ground floorAppasaheb Marathe Marg, PrabhadeviMumbai 400025, India
Viewings and Appointments15 - 24 February 201610.30 am - 7 pm, Monday to Saturday10.30 am - 3 pm, on day of saleSunday by appointment
SaffronartIndustry Manor, Ground floorAppasaheb Marathe Marg, PrabhadeviMumbai 400025, India
ADDRESS
Mumbai Industry Manor, Ground and 3rd Floor, Appasaheb Marathe Marg, Prabhadevi, Mumbai 4000
New Delhi Te Oberoi, Dr. Zakir Hussain Marg, New Delhi 110003
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MUMBAI
DELHI LONDON NEW YORK
HUGO WEIHEChief Executive Officer
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Senior Vice PresidentClient Relations
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MINAL VAZIRANICo-founder
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“I paint because I derive pleasure from paintingand I try to give pleasure to others. Tat is my
philosophy of art.” N S BENDRE
“If one is fortunate, painting
continually happens within onese V S GAIONDE
“When all the paths in all the directions are closed,
the only path left is that of painting and by God’s
grace it is always open.” PRABHAKAR BARWE
“I have interpreted the universe in
terms of five primary colours: blac
white, red, blue and yellow.” S H RAZA
“Artists don’t make objects. Artists
make mythologies.” ANISH KAPOOR
“It is the intangible which is
now my goal.” JEHANGIR SABAVALA
“Life is like a circus. Behind the garish make-up, there is
pain hidden somewhere. Deep within.” MANJI BAWA
“Te face of art is somewh
like that of the sun. It does
not communicate but give J SWAMINAHAN
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From left to right: yeb Mehta, Krishen Khanna, M F Husain, S H Raza, and K K
© Dinodia Phot
“In Art, man reveals himself and not his obje RABINDRANA
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Ara’s skilled use of thickly layered paint to create an
impression of light and shadow is evident in this rare
landscape painting. Te architectural elements and
tree emerge from the textured layers of paint against a
comparatively flat blue sky.
Nudes and still-lifes were Ara’s main themes, and
landscape paintings were a “...deviation in his choice of
subject [that] comes as a pleasant surprise.” (Kishore
Singh ed., Manifestations 5: 20th Century Indian Art , New
Delhi: Delhi Art Gallery, 2011, p. 23) Te ata Institute of
Fundamental Research houses a significant collection of
rare landscape paintings by the artist.
PROPERY FROM HE COLLECION OFL. GENERAL DAYARAM HAPAR
1
K H ARA (1914 - 1985)Untitled
Signed ‘ARA’ (lower left); bearing Chemould labelon the stretcher (on the reverse)Oil on canvas23 x 18 in (58.5 x 45.5 cm)
Rs 3,00,000 - 5,00,000
$ 4,415 - 7,355
PROCEEDS FROM HE SALE OF HIS LO WILL BENEFIHE INDORE CANCER FOUNDAION CHARIABLE RUS
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PROPERY FROM HE COLLECION OF
L. GENERAL DAYARAM HAPAR
2
K H ARA (1914 - 1985)
UntitledSigned ‘K H ARA’ (lower right); bearing Chemouldlabel on the stretcher (on the reverse)Oil on canvas23.25 x 18.25 in (59 x 46.3 cm)
Rs 3,00,000 - 5,00,000
$ 4,415 - 7,355
PROCEEDS FROM HE SALE OF HIS LO WILL BENEFIHE INDORE CANCER FOUNDAION CHARIABLE RUS
PROPERY FROM AN IMPORANPRIVAE COLLECION, NEW DELHI
3
K H ARA (1914 - 1985)
UntitledSigned ‘ARA’ (lower left)Watercolour on paper30 x 22 in (76.4 x 55.6 cm)
Rs 6,00,000 - 8,00,000
$ 8,825 - 11,765
3
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F N SOUZA (1924 - 2002)
Untitled (Portrait of a Man)
Signed and dated ‘Souza 56’ (upper left)1956Pen and watercolour on paper9.5 x 7.5 in (24.3 x 19.3 cm)
Rs 4,00,000 - 6,00,000
$ 5,885 - 8,825
PROVENANCE:Collection of Nicholas readwell from the 1960sPrivate Collection, North India
5
F N SOUZA (1924 - 2002)Untitled (Woman in Profile)
Signed and dated ‘Souza 1952’ (lower right)1952Charcoal and pencil on paper pasted on paper15 x 22.25 in (38.2 x 56.4 cm)
Rs 10,00,000 - 15,00,000
$ 14,710 - 22,060
PROVENANCE:Formerly from the Collection of Julian SherrierChristie’s, New York, 12 September 2012, lot 341Private Collection, New Delhi
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M F HUSAIN (1913 - 2011)
UntitledSigned in Devnagari (lower right)Oil on canvas pasted on board13.5 x 9.5 in (34.2 x 24.1 cm)
Rs 18,00,000 - 22,00,000
$ 26,475 - 32,355
PROVENANCE:Saffronart, 19-20 September 2012, lot 75From a Private International Collection© Jyoti Bhatt
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PROPERY FROM AN IMPORANPRIVAE COLLECION, NEW DELHI
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M F HUSAIN (1913 - 2011)
UntitledSigned ‘Husain’ (upper right) and in Devnagari (upper left)Mixed media on paper pasted on board29.75 x 21.75 in (75.4 x 55.2 cm)
Rs 15,00,000 - 20,00,000
$ 22,060 - 29,415
PROVENANCE:An Important Private Collection, JapanSaffronart, 21 July 2011, lot 31
PROPERY FROM HE COLLECION OFAN EMINEN FAMILY, MUMBAI
7
M F HUSAIN (1913 - 2011)
Sindhu of Gaja GaaminiSigned ‘Husain’ and inscribed ‘Sindhu of Gaja Gaamini’ (lower right)Watercolour, ink and sketchpen on paper14.5 x 21 in (36.7 x 53.6 cm)
Rs 5,00,000 - 7,00,000
$ 7,355 - 10,295
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“Te central concern of Husain’s art, and its dominant
motif, is woman... In Husain’s work, woman has the gift of
eagerness... like those in ancient Jain miniature paintings,
and an inward attentiveness, as if she were listening to
the life coursing within her.” (Richard Bartholomew and
Shiv S Kapur, Husain , New York: Harry N Abrams, Inc.,
1971, p. 46)
In this rare painting from 1965, Husain depicts two
women enclosed in embryo-like cocoons. Te body of
the woman in blue is turned towards the viewer but
her face is in profile. Her right hand is raised in a mudra.
Te woman enclosed in brown, in contrast, is seated
with her back to the viewer, her face and raised right
hand not quite defined. Husain uses two very different
techniques to paint the women: while the lady in blue is
moulded like clay, the figure next to her appears brittle
and fragmented.
Husain’s depictions of women are deeply rooted in
Indian sculpture and miniature painting. Between 1948
and 1952, he travelled extensively across India and
encountered Jain and Basohli miniature paintings and
Mathura sculptures. Te female forms in his paintings
take their cues from the energy and dynamism of the
female figure in Mathura sculptures. Aspects of Jain
miniature painting techniques also seep into his work, as
seen by the compartmentalisation of the two figures in
this painting.
“Our stories are short
We always begin at the end
Tere in the distant villages,
Women sit in groups,
like far-flung tin roofs,
telling stories unknown to themselves.” M F HUSAIN
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PROPERY FROM HE COLLECION OF ANEMINEN FAMILY, MUMBAI
9
M F HUSAIN (1913 - 2011)
Untitled
Signed in Devnagari and Urdu anddated ‘1 IX 1965’ (lower right)1965Oil on canvas34.75 x 48.25 in (88.2 x 122.3 cm)
Rs 90,00,000 - 1,20,00,000
$ 132,355 - 176,475
PROVENANCE:Acquired directly from the artist in the 1960s
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S H RAZA (B. 1922)
La Source
Signed and dated ‘RAZA ‘60’ (lower right);signed and dated again ‘RAZA P_278’ 60’and inscribed ‘”La Source”’ (on the reverse)1960Acrylic on canvas29 x 19 in (73.7 x 48.3 cm)
Rs 35,00,000 - 45,00,000
$ 51,475 - 66,180
PROVENANCE:Saffronart, 4-6 May 2004, lot 21Private Collection, UK
“After many long years of
thinking and working,
I find the mysteries are
so great, so beyond
human comprehension
– that they defy the
order of logic. So that
I wonder if a system
of logic exists, at all.
Reasoning, order, logic.
Tese are there at thebeginning. Tese are the
fundamental, elemental
inquiries, which are
indispensible. Tereafter
you go to other levels –
where logic is left behind.” S H RAZA
© S H Raza
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Manjit Bawa, New Delhi, 6 Janua
Source: Te imes of India Group. © BCCL. All Rights R
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PROPERY FROM HE COLLECION OF A DISINGUISHED LADY, MUMBAI
11
MANJI BAWA (1941 - 2008)
Untitled
Signed and dated ‘Manjit 92’ (on the reverse)1992Oil on canvas59.25 x 68.5 in (150.5 x 174 cm)
Rs 2,00,00,000 - 3,00,00,000
$ 294,120 - 441,180
PUBLISHED:Marcella C Sirhandi, “Manipulating Cultural Idioms”, Art Journal , Vol. 58, No. 3,College Art Association, Autumn1999, pp. 40-47 (illustrated)Amrita Jhaveri, A Guide to 101 Indian Contemporary Artists , Mumbai: India BookHouse, 2005, p. 16 (illustrated)
Te central figure in this classic Bawa painting, set against
a flat, monochromatic background bears a strong
resemblance to Lord Krishna, who is often portrayed
as a blue-skinned cowherd sporting a peacock feather
on his head, playing a flute and surrounded by cattle.
Blue-bodied but without the peacock feather, and
surrounded by dogs rather than cows, Bawa’s figure
might also be Ranjha, from the tragic-romance of
Punjabi literature, Heer-Ranjha. Bawa, who was deeply
influenced by Indian mythology, miniature paintings,
and Sufism, meant for his painting to have multiple
interpretations.
In a 1996 interview with Marcella C Sirhandi, associate
professor in art history at Oklahoma State University,
Bawa is ambiguous on the identification when he says,
“It is not Krishna... It is Ranja [sic]... Even if it is Krishna,
it doesn’t matter – Ranja is also a flute player, and Ranja
was a divine lover, more than Krishna, because Ranja gave
everything for love.” (Interview with Marcella C Sirhandi,
“Manipulating Cultural Idioms”, Art Journal , Vol. 58,
No. 3, College Art Association, Autumn 1999, pp. 40-47,
accessed through JSOR) Bawa draws the connection
between Krishna as Venugopala and Ranjha, both flute
players who epitomise true love.
In the same interview, Bawa ascribes another layer
of meaning to the present lot. Shaken by the violent
communal riots that followed the demolition of the
Babri Masjid in 1992, he describes the dogs in this
painting as representations of secular creatures who are
not defined by a religious identity. “Te fundamentalists
are breaking my culture. So I do paintings like Ranja
with dogs... Te dog is anti-Hindu and anti-Muslim
both. Showing the dog is antireligion.” (Interview with
Marcella C Sirhandi)
Beyond the multi-layered meaning and symbolism,
Bawa’s Ranjha is striking for the interplay of colours –
the deep maroon background, the blue skin and yellow
dhoti of the central figure and the white, pastel shades
of the dogs. Both, human and animals are rendered with
equal care and delineation, and they seem to exist in an
undisturbed world of understanding and communion.
Tis image was used by the Delhi-based NGO Sahmat topromote secular values
Venugopala under a Kadamba ree with Sakhis , anjore School,mid-20th centurySaffronart Online Auction of anjore Paintings , 21-22 January 2016,lot 3
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“Nobody would listen to m
flute; I’ll play for the dogs.” SUFI POE
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13MANJI BAWA (1941 - 2008)
Untitled
Signed and dated ‘Manjit 2003’ (on the reverse)2003Oil on canvas26.25 x 19.25 in (66.5 x 48.6 cm)
Rs 40,00,000 - 60,00,000
$ 58,825 - 88,240
PROPERY FROM AN IMPORAN PRIVAE COLLECION, NEW DELHI
12
MANJI BAWA (1941 - 2008)
Untitled
Signed and dated ‘Manjit Bawa 98’ (lower right); bearing Vadehra ArtGallery label on the hardboard (on the reverse)1998Ink on paper14.5 x 21.25 in (36.8 x 53.9 cm)
Rs 7,00,000 - 9,00,000
$ 10,295 - 13,240
PROVENANCE:Vadehra Art Gallery
Te theme of Krishna as the flute player recurs
in this signed pencil drawing by Bawa. A seated
figure similar to the one in the previous lot plays
his flute to a group of dogs. Te clean, flowing
lines of the study capture the thought process and
compositional clarity of Bawa’s finished canvases.
“Bawa’s paintings usually take shape around a
single figure or a group... [He] pares down the icon
to its essence, aiming, he has said, ‘to create a sense
of pure aesthetics, so simple that even a child can
respond to the image’... Besides large oils, Bawa has
worked in the miniature format and on a series of
drawings, which are mostly preparatory.” (Amrita
Jhaveri, A Guide to 101 Modern and Contemporary
Indian Artists , Mumbai: India Book House Pvt.
Ltd., 2005, p. 16)
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PROPERY FROM HE COLLECION OFMALI GILANI, NEW DELHI
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N S BENDRE (1910 - 1992)
UntitledSigned and dated in Devnagari (lower right)1970Oil on canvas34 x 40 in (86.3 x 101.6 cm)
Rs 30,00,000 - 40,00,000
$ 44,120 - 58,825
PROVENANCEAcquired directly from the artist
N S Bendre painted the subtle, yet highly textured present lot at a
of great creativity when he settled in Mumbai in 1966, after exte
travels through India and Europe. Te exposure made him more att
to “aspects beyond his immediate experience, of total perceptio
which his mind or emotion played a significant part.” (Ram Cha
Bendre: he Painter and the Person , oronto: Te Bendre Found
for Art and Culture & Indus Corporation, 1990, p. 60) Te two
are the only points of focus in an otherwise soothing, meditativ
of beige leaves.
Bendre’s artistic career began at the State School of Art in Indo
1929. Over six decades, he experimented with Cubism, Expressio
and Pointillism to express Indian themes such as birds and ani
figures, and landscapes of Indian villages. In the latter half of his c
he “gives prime importance to his visual experience, but he doe
resort to naturalistic representation. He interprets it on his canvas
own terms and offers what he has seen and enjoyed...” (Chatterji ,
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“In terms of spirit, these paintings are detached,
calm contemplations. Ram Kumar expresses
himself through colour, mass, structure, movement.
And in these and with all these Ram Kumar creates
his magnificent paintings – works, statements,
allusions, observations, inferences on nature. Tey
appear to be effortless and inevitable in their
compositions.” RICHARD BARHOLOMEW
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RAM KUMAR (B. 1924)
Untitled
Signed and dated ‘Ram Kumar 2004’(on the reverse)2004Acrylic on canvas42 x 70 in (106.4 x 177.8 cm)
Rs 40,00,000 - 60,00,000
$ 58,825 - 88,240
PROVENANCE:Private Collection, North India
16
RAM KUMAR (B. 1924)
Untitled
Signed and dated in Devnagari (lower right)1977Pen and ink on paper pasted on mountboard11 x 15 in (28 x 38.2 cm)
Rs 2,00,000 - 3,00,000
$ 2,945 - 4,415
PROVENANCE:An Important Private Collection, New Delhi
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Ram Kumar finds the perfect middle ground between
the representational landscape and the abstracted one,
with room for rumination. Te present lot is created
through the layered application of earth tones on canvas
to reveal the rocky landscape found within nature.
Hints of cooler tones underneath warmer ones suggest
Kumar’s devotion to revealing the reality of these spaces
for reflection. When speaking of his process Ram Kumar
has stated, “Tere is an enigmatic mystery about the
inner life of a colour applied on canvas. It stands out by
itself in the beginning but slowly it starts building up
relationships with other areas, other colours, and forms.
Tis continues. Tere is a pause, a silence, an accident and
in the end some sort of harmony.” (Gagan Gill ed., “From
Ram Kumar’s Notebooks,” Ram Kumar: A Journey Within ,
New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 1966, p. 202) Te present
lot embodies Kumar’s talent for taking apart a landscape
and then putting it back together in a way where the
tones of colour create a discourse which inspires both
memory and emotion.
Moved by the setting and landscapes he encountered
on a trip to Banaras in the 1960s, Kumar abandoned his
previously figurative paintings. He embarked on a new
direction in his oeuvre, in an attempt to express the
emotions evoked by landscapes. His abstract landscapes
capture the true essence of place without the use of
overt symbolism. Richard Bartholomew has stated,
“Whenever I see a Ram Kumar painting, and a landscape,
I get the feeling that I’ve been there before. Te manner
in which memory functions through deliberate recall
and association. Te very forms of composition suggest
that. Te hard and soft, the tangible and the elusive, the
structure and sensation. Te structure of what lies before
the eyes and the sensation of what lies behind. Tis is the
link between the painter’s self and our own.” (Gill, p. 124)
15
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PROPERY FROM AN IMPORAN PRIVAE COLLECION, MUMBAI
17
AKBAR PADAMSEE (B. 1928)
UntitledSigned and dated ‘PADAMSEE 2005’ (upper right)2005Oil on canvas35.25 x 53.5 in (89.8 x 135.7 cm)
Rs 90,00,000 - 1,20,00,000
$ 132,355 - 176,475
PROVENANCE:Acquired directly from the artist
Padamsee began painting his Metascape series in 1970
and coined the term “Metascape” to describe landscapes
stripped of all geographic and chronologic specificity.
“I’m not interested in location or landscape. My general
theme is nature – mountains, trees, water, the elements,
and obviously one is influenced by the environment, but
I’m not interested in painting Rajasthan or the desert of
whatever. When I paint a tree, a mountain, or a river, Iam really interested in ‘the river’, ‘the mountain’, ‘the tree’.
Te paintings are neither abstract nor representational.”
(as quoted in Eunice D’Souza, “Akbar Padamsee’s
Metascapes”, he Economic imes , 30 November 1975)
ranscending the limitations of ‘conventional geography’,
the present lot challenges conventional notions of
time and space. Te abstract landscape is composed of
“... brilliantly choreographed planes of light and dark made
in thick impasto which evoke mountains, field, sky and
water. Te controlled cadence of the colors breaks into
a throbbing intensity as the artist in his most masterly
works, evokes infinite time and space.” (Yashodhara
Dalmia, Indian Contemporary Art Post Independence ,
New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 1997, p. 17)
Padamsee’s Metascapes “… include both a truly
detached and analytical approach and a fascination for
tautological rules. In the paintings the image prods the
exercise, form being distilled to reveal the core. Curiously
the endeavour is as old as it is modern: the artistic pursuit
of a philosophical intent.” (Mala Marwah, Lalit Kala
Contemporary 23 , New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi, 1979,
p. 36)
© Manisha Gera Baswani
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Te expansive, panoramic view of India’s western coastline
in he Green Cape reveals the wondrous beauty that
Jehangir Sabavala finds within nature. Sabavala creates
quiet, solitary landscapes with transcendent scenes that
offer space for contemplation. “At the level of immediate
sensation, we are struck by the obvious physical beauty
of the painting as a product, process and parallel reality.
And as we enter Sabavala’s spaces, with trepidation, to
inhabit them, we apprehend their disquieting tranquillity;
the paradox underscores the artist’s uncertainty about hisplace in the universe, his nostalgia for the infinite.” (Ranjit
Hoskote, Pilgrim, Exile, Sorcerer: he Painterly Evolution of
Jehangir Sabavala , Bombay: Eminence Designs Pvt. Ltd.,
1998, p. 101)
Te present lot suggests a mystical bond between the
individual and the cosmos. Sabavala’s figures are often
described as pilgrims, or lost souls, yearning through
serene terrains, making their way to the receding horizon.
Tis sense of seeking is achieved through the subtle
interpretation of Cubism which he studied in England and
Paris in the 1960s. Te carefully constructed, geometric
colour planes, combined with his subtle palette create a
sense of luminosity. Sabavala states, “I have been seduced
by a palette of broken tones... by a visible search for a
more distilled essence. I think that so much more can
be said by the half-tone than by the blatancy of primary
colour... I prefer to haunt a mysterious world of veiled
lights and sudden discoveries.” (Hoskote, p. 101)
Sabavala’s work is aesthetically sublime and is also
intrinsically laced with philosophical thought. He was
very interested in the writings of the French philosophers,
including Albert Camus, who explored notions of spiritual
estrangement. “Sabavala’s paintings have preserved an
introspective, melancholy lyricism, as well as the ache of
the Sublime. Tese paintings are tinted with nostalgia,
as for moments once possessed, for homelands once
known and now forever beyond the horizon of what can
be known.” (Hoskote, p. 99)
Preliminary sketch made by Sabavala. Te artist maintained sketchbooks toplan his paintings.
Courtesy, Te rustees, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu S angrahalaya, Mumbai
Page from the artist’s sketchbook.Courtesy, Te rustees, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu S angrahalaya, Mumbai
With special thanks to Shirin Sabavala for her generosity in providing us a ccessto her personal archives.
PROPERY FROM HE COLLECION OF AN IMPORAN FAMILY, NEW DELHI
18
JEHANGIR SABAVALA (1922 - 2011)
Te Green Cape
Signed and dated ‘Sabavala ‘74’ (lower right); datedand inscribed “Te Green Cape” ‘74’ (on the reverse)1974
Oil on canvas29.5 x 49.5 in (75 x 126 cm)
Rs 2,50,00,000 - 3,50,00,000
$ 367,650 - 514,710
PROVENANCE:Property of a Distinguished Lady
EXHIBIED: Jehangir Sabavala , Mumbai: Gallery Chemould at Jehangir Art Gallery, 19-25 March 1976 Jehangir Sabavala , New Delhi: Black Partridge Gallery, 16-26 April 1976
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PROPERY FROM HE COLLECION OF
AN IMPORAN FAMILY, NEW DELHI
19
JEHANGIR SABAVALA (1922 - 2011)Untitled
Signed and dated ‘London ‘46 S abavala’ (lower right)1946Pencil on paper pasted on mountboard
13 x 8 in (32.9 x 20.1 cm)Rs 5,00,000 - 7,00,000
$ 7,355 - 10,295
PROVENANCE:Saffronart, 21-22 April 2011, lot 62An Important Private Collection, New Delhi
PUBLISHED:Mulk Raj Anand, Sabavala , Sadanga Series, Mumbai: Vakil, Feffer &Simon, 1966, p. 12 (illustrated)
Tis figure study demonstrates Sabavala’s comm
over line and form. Te artist does not merely rende
figure with anatomical accuracy, he shows the v
the beauty and sensuality of the model. Te define
muscles and the soft modelling of the torso revea
artist’s concentrated engagement with the renderi
his subject.
Tis study was made in 1946 when Sabavala had en
at the Heatherley School of Art in London. Durin
two years there, he developed his artistic skills and fo
long-lasting relations with people who were to for
important part of his life. It was here that he me
developed his companionship with Shirin Dastur, w
he married two years later.Image courtesy of Shirin Sabavala
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JAMINI ROY (1887 - 1972)
Untitled (Tree Drummers)
Signed in Bengali (lower right)Gouache on card paper13 x 19.25 in (33.2 x 48.8 cm)
Rs 10,00,000 - 15,00,000
$ 14,710 - 22,060
NON-EXPORABLE NAIONAL AR REASURE
PROVENANCE:Private American Collection, BrunswickPrivate Collection, New Delhi
20
JAMINI ROY (1887 - 1972)
Untitled
Signed in Bengali (lower right)
empera on paper pasted on board15.75 x 19.75 in (40 x 50 cm)
Rs 12,00,000 - 15,00,000
$ 17,650 - 22,060
NON-EXPORABLE NAIONAL AR REASURE
PROVENANCE:Private Collection, UKPrivate Collection, New Delhi
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PROPERY OF A GENLEMAN, NEW DELHI
22
M F HUSAIN (1913 - 2011)
Arrival
Inscribed ‘ARRIVAL’ (on the reverse)Acrylic on canvas35.5 x 25.5 in (90 x 64.8 cm)
Rs 70,00,000 - 90,00,000
$ 102,945 - 132,355
PROVENANCE:Private Collection, UKChristie’s, New York, 20 September 2006, lot 143
Te current lot embodies some of the most characteristic
elements of M F Husain’s style: earthy yellows, oranges and
browns, and bold reds and greens assimilate with strong
lines, clear spatial division and sculpturesque figures, all
of which serve to create strong contrasts between the
different elements of the painting. Te female body-type
in Husain’s work evolved from his study of ancient Indian
sculpture, and his recognisable approach to the female
form first appeared in his work in 1950. o him, the
high-breasted, taut forms represented the principle of
energy and dynamism. Masks also feature in many of his
works as an instrument of transformation, and a bridge
between two planes of reality. Te use of masks imbues
works such as the present lot with ritualistic meaning
and suggests the divided nature of human identity. With
figures contained within figures, this work is obviously
modern, yet at the same time it remains uniquely Indian
in nature. Husain’s inimitable style resulted in ancient
icons taking on new meanings related to modern India.Relief of Alasa Kanya at Vaital Deul, Bhubaneswar
Source: Shiladityaa, via Wikimedia Commons
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23
M F HUSAIN (1913 - 2011)
Untitled (Women In Yellow)
Signed in Devnagari and dated ‘’70’ (lower right)1970Oil on canvas53 x 29 in (134.6 x 73.7 cm)
Rs 1,20,00,000 - 1,80,00,000
$ 176,475 - 264,710
PROVENANCE:Acquired from Dhoomimal Gallery, New Delhi, in the early 1970sSotheby’s, New York, 17 September 2009, lot 25Private Collection, USA
EXHIBIED:Husain at hundred: Masterworks celebrating the 100 th Birthday of
India’s most iconic artist , New York: Aicon Gallery,17 September - 24 October 2015
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PROPERY FROM AN IMPORANPRIVAE COLLECION, NEW DELHI
24
ARPIA SINGH (1937)
Untitled
Signed and dated ‘ARPIA SINGH 91’ (upper 1991Silver and gold paint on fabric83.75 x 39 in (213 x 99 cm)
Rs 35,00,000 - 45,00,000
$ 51,475 - 66,180
Te present lot, painted on black
demonstrates Arpita Singh’s abiding inter
textiles, and specifically, the traditional Ka
embroidery of her native Bengal, spawne
her time designing textiles at the We
Service Centres in Calcutta and New
in the mid-1960s. Her work is influence
folk art, miniature painting and refer
to history and mythology, often feat
gravity-defying figures and objects set ag
complex backgrounds.
Paris-based historian Deepak Ananth, i
book Arpita Singh, published in 2015 w
“...the proliferation of floral or vegetal or
motifs... all these traits of many different m
of weaving and quilting and needlewor
also distinctive features that come into p
the representational strategies adopted b
painter from the 1980s...” (Quoted in Sou
Das, “Her Playful Perversity”, telegraph
5 July 2015)
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26
SAKI BURMAN (B. 1935)
Untitled
Signed ‘SAKI BURMAN’ (lower right)1970sOil on canvas25 x 19 in (63.4 x 48 cm)
Rs 16,00,000 - 18,00,000
$ 23,530 - 26,475
PROVENANCE:Acquired from a Private European Collector
he Faraway Song is comprised of five distinct scenes depicting
mythology and other iconographies, which can be viewed separately
or together as a composition. Inspired by his own dreams, as well as
the poetry of Rabindranath agore and Charles Baudelaire, Burman’s
paintings create a romantic world of grace and harmony. His unique
marbling technique is seen here in a combination of hues which
divide the canvas into multiple narratives creating an overall discourse
between figures and form.
“Te impact is not much unlike a surrealist inwardness ensured by
a mechanism of aesthetic ordering of a topsy-turvy pictorial world...
there are often clearly marked areas of smooth and textured passages
of paint, played off one against the other, as a chequered colour
groundwork for the image to convey a pure imaginative experience of
strong visual sensation. Te motifs that enact this experience are, often
in fragmented shape, humans and animals; mythical birds and beasts;
heads and torsos of what looks like sculpted female nudes; trees and
groves in luxuriant growth and elegant architectural forms.” (Manasij
Majumder, Sakti Burman: Dreamer on the Arc , Bombay: Pundole Art
Gallery, 2001, pp. 128-129)
25
SAKI BURMAN (B. 1935)Te Faraway Song
Signed ‘SAKI BURMAN’ (lower centre);inscribed ‘SAKI BURMAN “HE FARAWAYSONG” 2006’ (on the reverse)2006Oil on canvas34.5 x 45 in (87.5 x 114.5 cm)
Rs 50,00,000 - 70,00,000
$ 73,530 - 102,945
PROVENANCE:Acquired directly from the artistPrivate Collection, New Delhi
EXHIBIED:Manifestations XI: 75 Artists 20th Century Indian Art ,New Delhi: Delhi Art Gallery,15 October - 15 November 2014
PUBLISHED:Kishore Singh ed., Manifestations XI: 75 Artists 20th Century Indian Art New Delhi: Delhi Art Galleryexhibition catalogue, 2014, p. 108 (illustrated)
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PROPERY FROM AN EMINEN PRIVAE COLLECION, NEW DELHI
27
F N SOUZA (1924 - 2002)
Untitled
Signed and dated ‘Souza 63’ (upper left)1963Charcoal and oil on canvas34 x 40 in (86.4 x 101.4 cm)
Rs 70,00,000 - 90,00,000
$ 102,945 - 132,355
PROVENANCE:An Important Private Collection, JapanSaffronart, 9-11 September 2009, lot 84
Tis large scale charcoal and oil on canvas by Souza has
the detailing and mastery over line which is evident in
his works on paper. Souza’s characteristic line-work is
used to both delineate and decorate each feature in
the present lot. Set against a simple, monochromatic
background, each object in the still-life is endowed with
the depth and intensity of the artist’s trademark cross-
hatching technique.
As a child in Goa, Souza was fascinated by the pomp
and pageantry of Roman Catholicism. Its rituals, and the
ornate objects associated with them, played a large role
in shaping this awe. As he explains, the Church “…had a
tremendous influence over me, not its dogmas but its
grand architecture and the splendour of its services…
Te smell of incense.” (Francis Newton Souza, Words and
Lines , London: Villiers Publication Ltd., 1959, p. 10)
Over time Souza found this religious atmosphere
repressive, and its puritanical tenets hypocritical. Souza’s
unresolved relationship of wonder and contempt for
Catholicism infiltrated every genre of his work. In his
still-lifes, he critically interrogated the notion of divine
sanction, and its various interpretations and vehicles.
In some of his still-life paintings Souza painted objects
including the Ciborium, Chalice and Paten that were
clearly ecclesiastical. In others, such as the present lot,
Souza presents everyday vessels in a religious context,
almost as if they stand on an altar awaiting their part in
some liturgical ritual.
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F N SOUZA (1924 - 2002)
Valldemosa
Signed and dated ‘Souza 61’ (lower left); inscribed ‘F.N.Souza Valldemosa1961’, bearing Gallery One label on the stretcher (on the reverse)1961Oil and polyvinyl acetate on canvas28.5 x 44.75 in (72.4 x 113.7 cm)
Rs 1,00,00,000 - 1,50,00,000$ 147,060 - 220,590
PROVENANCE:Gallery One, LondonSaffronart, 6-8 December 2005, lot 47Private Collection, UK
PUBLISHED:Edwin Mullins, Souza , London: Anthony Blond Ltd., 1962,p. 59 (illustrated)
Valldemosa takes its name from the scenic village in Mallorca, Spain. Souza
captures the essence of the distinct townscape of houses and monasteries
clustered against the ramuntana range in the background. At the centre
of the painting is the iconic 14th century Carthusian monastery, the Real
Cartuja de Valldemossa, recognisable from its steeple. Souza created
this painting a year after he was awarded a scholarship by the Italian
Government to visit Italy and travel to countries in Europe, including Spain.
Te townscapes he created during this period were markedly different from
his earlier, darker landscapes of the 1950s. Te present lot, with its crisp,
black lines and smooth planes of colour, was created in 1961 when, for the
first time, Souza used acrylics or polyvinyl acetate emulsion, a thin glue-like
binder for pigments. Departing from painting on board, he had turned to
canvas painting in this brief, experimental period. Souza’s canvas is divided
into cool and warm colour planes. Te pale yellow and white architecture
complements the earthy brown of the ground, the muted green of the
mountains, and the halcyon blue of the sky. With its luminescent quality,
Valldemosa is a rare work that marks a significant phase in the artist’s career.
Souza’s choice of painting the village of Valldemossa gains further
significance in its association with legendary musicians, artists and writers.
Te Real Cartuja had served as inspiration to composer Frédéric Chopin,
who lived there in 1838-39 with French writer Aurore Dupin. Immortalised
by his stay, Valldemossa continues to attract visitors from around the world.
Valldemossa, Spain
Source: Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 3.0
Te painting has been published in the artist’smonograph, Edwin Mullins, Souza, on p. 97 asSpanish Landscape.
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restricted to one school of expression. He constantly
strove to experiment and innovate with material, style
and technique. At 100 cm in height, the present lot is an
unusually large work which retains the smooth rhythm
and elongated line that Chaudhuri is known for.
Te present lot was formerly in the collection of Eugene
and Penelope Rosenberg. Eugene Rosenberg was one
of the leading exponents of modernist architecture
in Post-war Britain. He was known for fostering a close
relationship between art and architecture, and believed
that buildings provided ideal spaces in which to house
art and sculpture for daily enjoyment. Rosenberg wo
with Le Corbusier in Paris before setting up the
Yorke, Rosenberg and Mardall in Britain with F R S Y
and C S Mardall. Tey were responsible for some o
most original architectural projects of the time, inclu
Gatwick Airport, the John Radcliffe Hospital in O
and Manchester Magistrates Court. In 1992 Eu
Rosenburg’s book Architect’s Choice: Art in Archit
in Great Britain since 1945 was published by Tam
Hudson, which he hoped would continue to in
alliances between architects and artists.
© Jyoti Bhatt
29
SANKHO CHAUDHURI (B. 1916)
Untitled (Standing Figure)
Circa 1950sWoodHeight: 39.25 in (100 cm)
Rs 5,00,000 - 7,00,000
$ 7,355 - 10,295
PROVENANCE:Galerie Palette, ZürichRoland, Browse and Delbano, LondonAcquired from the above by Eugene and Penelope Rosenberg,28 December 1959Private Collection, North India
C S Mardall, F R S Yorke and Eugene Rosenberg.
© RIBA Collections, 2016
Chaudhuri is considered one of the stalwarts of Modern Indian
sculpture, whose work is significant in the evolution of Indian
sculpture away from the academic style based on mid-Victorian
ideals of naturalism that had developed under the British Raj.
In the 1940s, new styles and media were explored by sculptors,
with a strong leaning towards abstraction. Chaudhuri was a
student of Ramkinkar Baij, who was himself a key figure in this
early emancipation from the mainstream British style. Tough he
was profoundly influenced by Baij, Chaudhuri was by no means
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Image courtesy of DAG MODERN A
Seen here third row (left to right) are JeramPatel, Himmat Shah, Jyoti Bhatt. In the middlerow, (left to right) are J Swaminathan, RajeshMehra, Raghav Kaneria (hiding behindthe leaf); In front row are Balkrishna Patel,Ambadas, G Sheikh (in glasses) and S G Nikam
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30
HIMMA SHAH (B. 1933)a) Untitled
Signed and dated ‘Himmat 95’ (on the inside of the hollow)1995erracottaHeight: 6.25 in (16.4 cm)
b) Untitled
Signed ‘Himmat’ (lower left)Pencil, pen and ink on paper pasted on board8.25 x 5.75 in (21 x 14.7 cm)
Rs 4,00,000 - 6,00,000
$ 5,885 - 8,825
(Set of two)
a
b
Himmat Shah’s bronze and terracotta sculptures have
a monumental presence. “Himmat’s favoured material
is terracotta, a material that reflects India’s longstanding
village economies, supported by the cycle of birth
and rebirth of the essential material, clay. Only some
terracotta objects pass into history, many do not bear
the imprint of the artist, and all speak of the early
wonder of man mimicking nature. It is entirely possible
that Himmat’s response to clay, which needs the other
elements of water and fire to gain form, is at the level of
the philosophical, as much as of the material.” (Gayatri
Sinha, An Unreasoned Act of Being , Ahmedabad: Mapin
Publishing Pvt. Ltd., 2007, p. 38) Shah uses terracotta
to create a continuum between the past and present
by offering a commentary about man and the mark he
makes on the earth.
Shah’s heads speak of a disquieting humanity as his
cubist forms are anti-classical and have a more powerful
depiction. He creates markings and cross-hatching on
the clay to suggest the destructive forces that come
into play with man’s existence. His background in
painting and drawing is reflected in his use of the line
to create texture on the clay. Having shown himself as
a multi-disciplinary artist, Shah immersed himself in
many mediums before coming to the realisation that
he was most passionate about his sculptural practice.
“In a sense, his works are portraits, but their locus draws
from past and present, generic and individual man. Te
patina, furrows and the sharp cleavages of long ye ars of
human experience are visible, as Himmat invites us to
share in a monumental quietude and fraternity of being
human.” (Sinha, p. 51)
© Manisha Gera Baswani
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PROPERY FROM AN IMPORAN PRIVAE COLLECION, NEW DELHI
31
JAGDISH SWAMINAHAN (1928 - 1994)
Untitled
Signed and dated in Devnagari (lower right)1970Oil on canvas49.5 x 68.5 in (125.5 x 174 cm)
Rs 50,00,000 - 70,00,000
$ 73,530 - 102,945
"Te introduction of the representatio
context in terms of colour geometry gi
birth to psycho-symbolic connotations. T
a mountain remains not a mountain b
becomes the abode of Shiva. It becomes
totem capable of exercising its magical eterinfluence on those who come within its field
vision." J SWAMINAHAN
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Jagdish Swaminathan’s art was informed by his profound
interest in the folk and tribal art of Central India. Born in
Simla in 1928, it was not until the 1950s that Swaminathan
began to paint full-time. At this time he questioned, and
rejected, the notion that Indian modernism developed
from encounters with the West. In 1962 he, along with
some others, formed Group 1890, which was vehemently
opposed to both the idealism of the Bengal School
and the mannerism of European Modernism. Instead,
Swaminathan strove to find the roots of a truly Indian
Modern art in the foundations of Indian art as traced
through tribal traditions.
During this period, Swaminathan experimented with
totemic symbols from early societies in a constant
quest to simplify, to find the origins, to return to purity.
Although his practice eventually segued into the Bird,
Mountain and ree series that he is well-known for, he
returned to and refined his earlier obsession with tribal
and folk arts in the 1980s, following his founding of the
Roopanker Museum of Art at Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal at
the invitation of the government of Madhya Pra
Exploring what he himself described as his “na
bent for the primeval” (J Swaminathan, “Te Cygan
Auto-bio note”, New Delhi: Lalit Kala Contemp
40 , March 1995, p. 13), the artist experimented w
‘primitive’ system of communications, adopting an
symbology as a tool to reconnect modern Indian ar
its indigenous precursors.
Works from this later period of Swaminathan’s life,
as the present lot, make real the artist’s desire to esta
a continuum between folk, tribal and modern art
his belief that the philosophical underpinnings of I
art have a place in contemporary art practice.
deliberately unstructured manner in which Swamina
arranges his forms and symbols on the canvas ech
manner in which the same symbols were used in fol
Swaminathan’s work embodies the meaningful me
that Modernism can incorporate a visual language t
at once ancient, modern, and entirely Indian.
© Jyoti Bhatt
32
JAGDISH SWAMINAHAN (1928 - 1994)
Untitled
1990Oil on canvas32 x 46.5 in (81.3 x 118.1 cm)
Rs 40,00,000 - 50,00,000
$ 58,825 - 73,530
Also included with this lot is a copy of the book ‘Chirai ri tu kya jane’by Sitakant Mahapatra.
PROVENANCE:Centre for Contemporary Art, New DelhiPrivate Collection, Denmark
PUBLISHED:Sitakant Mahapatra, Chirai ri tu kya jane , New Delhi: NationalPublishing House, 1992 (illustrated on cover)
Sitakant Mahapatra, Chirai ri tu kya jane ,New Delhi: National Publishing House, 1992
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PROPERY OF AN IMPORAN PRIVAE COLLECION, NEW D ELHI
34
GULAMMOHAMMED SHEIKH (B. 1937)
ree over Mountains
Signed, dated and inscribed ‘G. M. Sheikh ree over Mountains1970’ (on the reverse)1970
Oil on canvas36 x 23.5 in (91.3 x 60 cm)
Rs 30,00,000 - 40,00,000
$ 44,120 - 58,825
EXHIBIEDModern Masters , Bangalore: Apparao Galleries, 11-30 September 2011
PUBLISHED:Harish Meenashru, A ree With Tousand Wings , Vallabh Vidyanagar:Lajja Communications, 2008 (illustrated on cover)
33
GULAMMOHAMMED SHEIKH (B. 1937)
Untitled
Signed and dated in Gujarati (lower right)1993Charcoal and conte on paper pasted on
cloth stretched over plywood45 x 67 in (114.3 x 170.1 cm)
Rs 12,00,000 - 18,00,000
$ 17,650 - 26,475
Gulammohammed Sheikh has often used the tree as a symbol to explore po
and spiritual issues close to the artist. In Sheikh’s ree of Life , an enormous tre
sprouted from the valleys, growing ceaselessly upwards and disappearing from
frame of the canvas. In its looming shadow, snow-capped peaks and forests a
diminutive. Te verticality of the canvas lends this titular tree a monumen
that cannot be contained. Te ochre and deep green tones imbue the scene
richness and fertility that signifies and celebrates life.
34
Te painting on the cover of Aree With Tousand Wings: Poems
by Harish Meenashru.Reproduced with kind permission fromLajja Communications
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PROPERY FROM HE COLLECION OF AN IMPORAN FAMILY, NEW DELHI
36
S H RAZA (B. 1922)
Untitled
Signed and dated ‘RAZA 1981/82’ (on the reverse)1981-82Oil on canvas9.5 x 7.5 in (24 x 19 cm)
Rs 12,00,000 - 15,00,000
$ 17,650 - 22,060
PROVENANCE:Chester and Davida Herwitz CollectionAicon Gallery, New York
PROPERY OF A DISINGUISHED GENLEMAN, NEW DELHI
35
S H RAZA (B. 1922)
ree of Life
Signed and dated ‘RAZA ’92’ (lower right); signed, dated andinscribed ‘RAZA 1992 “REE OF LIFE”’ (on the reverse)1992Acrylic on canvas15.5 x 7.75 in (39.6 x 19.7 cm)
Rs 10,00,000 - 15,00,000
$ 14,710 - 22,060
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38
V S GAIONDE (1924 - 2001)
UntitledSigned in Devnagari and dated ‘87’ (lower right)1987Pen and ink on paper14 x 8 in (35.4 x 20.6 cm)
Rs 18,00,000 - 24,00,000
$ 26,475 - 35,295
PROVENANCE:An Important Private Collection, New Delhi
PROPERY FROM HE COLLECION OF AN IMPORAN FAMILY, NEW DELHI
37
M F HUSAIN (1913 - 2011)
UntitledSigned ‘Husain’ (lower right)Watercolour, oil and ink on paper12 x 11.5 in (30.3 x 29.2 cm)
Rs 18,00,000 - 22,00,000
$ 26,475 - 32,355
PROVENANCE:Acquired from a gallery in New Delhi at the Asian Conference of the Non-Aligned Countries in 1949Artcurial, Paris, 22 March 2011, lot 307
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“Every painting has a seed which germinates in the next painting.
A painting is not limited to one canvas. I go on adding an element
and that’s how it evolves.” V S GAIONDE
Gaitonde at work in his studio at the Chelsea Hotel, New York, 1965
© Bruce Frisch
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PROPERY FROM AN IMPORAN ASIAN PRIVAE COLLECION
39
V S GAIONDE (1924 - 2001)
Untitled
Signed and dated ‘V.S. GAIONDE 71’;signed again in Devnagari (on the reverse)1971Oil on canvas60 x 40 in (152.4 x 101.6 cm)
Rs 6,00,00,000 - 8,00,00,000
$ 882,355 - 1,176,480
PROVENANCE:Christie’s, New York, 23 March 2010, lot 59Saffronart, 19-20 June 2012, lot 38
Vasudeo Santu Gaitonde has always stood apart from
his contemporaries, whether in his personality whichdemanded isolation, or in his aesthetic vision that
increasingly exhibited a strong sense of meditative
introspection. Although he was loath to calling himself
an abstract artist and disliked being slotted into any
known genres, Gaitonde is today known as one of the
foremost Modern abstract expressionists of India. Even
when he painted figurations in his early career, he was
moving steadily towards abstraction, evident through his
works which displayed a “vividness throbbing with life.”
(Dnyaneshwar Nadkarni, Gaitonde , New Delhi: Lalit Kala
Akademi, 1983, unpaginated)
Growing up in the Girgaon area of Mumbai, Gaitonde
graduated from the J J School of Art in 1948, and was
invited to join the Bombay Progressives in the early 1950s.
In the decade that followed, Gaitonde experimented
with various forms of figurations, space and abstraction
that was “informed by traditional painting in India,
which historically consisted of mural painting, illustrated
manuscripts (on palm leaf or paper folios), and cloth
painting.” (Sandhini Poddar, “Polyphonic Modernisms
and Gaitonde’s Interiorized Worldview”, V.S. Gaitonde:Painting as Process, Painting as Life , New York: Te
Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, 2014, p. 20)
Departing almost completely from figuration, Gaitonde
began utilising a “non-objective” mode of expression.
“...Gaitonde was also working with painting itself. Te
creation of texture in an unconventional way, the use
of thick lugubrious pigment, the evocation of light and,
finally, the subtle balancing of the image on canvas as if it
were undulating on water and gradually surfacing in the
light–all these attainments of a time when the individual
canvases themselves may not be far too distinctive. Te
need to establish a meaningful relationship between line
and painted surface remains with Gaitonde for quite some
time–before his art takes the first turn towards the period
of his major achievement.” (Nadkarni, unpaginated)
Gaitonde’s canvases from the 1960s onwards displayed a
monochromatic palette, which he achieved through the
use of rollers and palette knives, instead of brushes. Te
results of this stage of experimentation–accompanied by
calligraphic strokes and hieroglyphs in ink–were by and
large an extension of his personal engagement with Zen
Buddhist philosophy. In 1964, Gaitonde was granted the
John D Rockefeller III fellowship to live and work in New
York, where he had a solo exhibition at the Willard Gallerythe following year.
A testament to Gaitonde’s meticulous process, the
present lot illustrates his precise control over the medium,
and his masterful ability to achieve a subtle balance
between earthiness and a sense of the ephemeral. Te
surface is built with subtly graded, translucent layers of
orange, rust and umber, running from a darker and more
heavily layered lower band, which anchors the image,
to its almost fluid centre, where a few intense points of
pigment have been allowed to punctuate the layers and
escape to the surface.
“Around 1968, one notices a shift from the early horizontal
canvases to the dominating format of the verticals, which
the artist continued to utilize until his last works from
1997-98.” (Poddar, p. 28) Te present lot, painted in 1971,
belongs to this vertical format phase of the artist’s career. A
similar 1970 painting, in variations of rust, forms part of Dr.
Homi Bhabha’s IFR collection of early Gaitonde works. A
precursor to the present lot, this collection “bears witness
to the next major phase in Gaitonde’s career...” (MortimerChatterjee and ara Lal, he IFR Art Collection , Mumbai:
ata Institute of Fundamental Research, 2010, p. 94)
Gaitonde achieved several accolades in his time. A year
after he created this painting, he received the Padma Shri.
Tis, in tandem with his permanent move to New Delhi,
marked a new phase of artistic growth and achievement,
cementing his position in the history of Indian art.
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Tis is the only seascape that Akbar Padamsee
painted. Tis vast canvas of a stormy sea was orig
commissioned from the artist by Naval Vak
prominent lawyer in Mumbai, who was an impo
collector and patron to many Indian Modernists.
once called Padamsee to his Napean Sea Road h
and asked him to paint the sea as seen from his win
Painted in 1970, this seascape marks the beginni
a landmark decade in the artist’s career and yet re
the broad panoramic scale of his monochromatic “
Works” from the early 1960s. Padamsee capture
turbulence of the sea through variations of blue, b
and brown. Brushstrokes change direction capt
the fluidity and movement of the ocean, simul
the churning of waves. Te disquieting swatch
black and blue mirror the night sky and echo the
depths of the ocean. Tis work stands p oised betPadamsee’s exploration of nature as an “obje
phenomenon,” and his depiction of space to trans
realism and physicality, as he does in his Metas
series of the 1970s.
Art critic Geeta Kapur elaborates on the emot
content of Padamsee’spaintings. “Anything that is w
contemplating is possessed of a solitude and in
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Ara’s nudes were “...massive bodies, usually
their backs to the viewer. Te folds of flesh
arouse any tenderness or even titillation. In
if anything, they create a feeling of a spre
largeness that can take over the entire pic
space.” (Yashodhara Dalmia, “Te Stillness o
Krishnaji Howlaji Ara”, he Making of M
Indian Art: he Progressives , New Delhi: O
University Press, 2001, p. 135)
PROPERY FROM AN IMPORAN PRIVAE COLLECION, NEW D ELHI
41
K H ARA (1914 - 1985)
Untitled (Nude)
Signed ‘ARA’ (lower left)Watercolour and ink on paper pasted on board29.5 x 21.5 in (74.9 x 54.6 cm)
Rs 6,00,000 - 8,00,000
$ 8,825 - 11,765
PROPERY FROM AN IMPORAN PRIVAE COLLECION,NEW DELHI
40AKBAR PADAMSEE (B. 1928)
Untitled
Signed and dated ‘PADAMSEE 70’ (upper left)1970Oil on canvas61.75 x 107.75 in (157 x 273.7 cm)
Rs 1,80,00,000 - 2,40,00,000
$ 264,710 - 352,945
Akbar’s landscapes are immensely solitary. Giorgio de
Chirico, an artist whom Akbar has always admired, speaks
of two kinds of solitude in works of art: “plastic solitude”
which is the contemplative beatitude offered to us by the
artist’s genius of construction or formal combination; and
“metaphysical solitude” in which the artist, presumably
treating space as an extended field of his unconscious,
projects signs into the infinite and invests it with
meaning.” (“Akbar Padamsee: the other side of solitude”,
Contemporary Indian Artists , New Delhi: Vikas Publishing
House Pvt. Ltd., 1978, accessed online) Padamsee’s
interpretation of the sea in the present lot offers a “plastic
solitude... an aesthetic form–a contemplative beatitude.”
(Kapur, accessed online)
Akbar with Cityscape at the Grey show, Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay, 1960
Padamsee’s monochromatic grey works from the early 1960s echo the vastscale and monochromy of the present lot.
Image courtesy of Bhanumati Padamsee
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M F HUSAIN (1913 - 2011)Lady
Signed in Devnagari (upper right); bearing Chemould labelon the stretcher (on the reverse)Oil on canvas55 x 33 in (139.7 x 83.8 cm)
Rs 1,00,00,000 - 1,50,00,000
$ 147,060 - 220,590
PROVENANCE:Christie’s, New York, 25 March 2004, lot 216Saffronart, 6-8 December 2005, lot 17Private Collection, UK
In the 1950s and ‘60s, M F Husain painted
a series of canvases including the present
lot, featuring a solitary woman against a
muted or monochromatic background.
In these paintings, Husain’s “…women
are monumental in their fortitude and
yet humble and ordinary in a duality
that Husain expresses effortlessly…”
(Yashodhara Dalmia, he Making of
Modern Indian Art: he Progressives ,
New Delhi: Oxford University Press,
2001, p. 101)
Te female figure has persisted as one
of the leitmotifs in Husain’s body of
work since his earliest experiments with
paint. Reflecting his upbringing and
early experiences of loss, these figures,including the one in the present lot are
“…enshrouded in an invisible veil, the
simplicity of their form countered by
their inaccessibility…Tey could well
be women from his own childhood in a
Muslim household, where the feminine
presence alternates between the
secretive and the visible. Te suppressed
yearning could be for his mother, who
died when he was only two years old,
leaving him feeling permanently bereft.”
(Dalmia, p. 111).
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Anjolie Ela Menon is one of India's foremost women
Modernists. In the present lot, Menon uses the window
frame to allude literally to the act of watching. Te woman
enclosed within the window is both the observer and
the observed. Menon began exploring the possibilities
of form and composition using windows in the 1970s.
Tis prompted her to search for old windows and doors
in Mumbai's Lakkar Bazaar, where she collected ornate
windows that once belonged in Parsi mansions. She
integrates the wooden frames into her work such that
the painting is contained and defined by it. Te curtains
in the present lot are painted to fit exactly into the frame,
as the subject stands gazing calmly through it.
PROPERY FROM HE COLLECION OFAN EMINEN FAMILY, MUMBAI
43
ANJOLIE ELA MENON (B. 1940)Untitled
Signed ‘Anjolie Ela Menon’ (lower right)Oil on masonite board35.75 x 20.25 in (91.1 x 51.7 cm)
Rs 12,00,000 - 15,00,000
$ 17,650 - 22,060
Te frame is part of the artwork
PROPERY FROM HE COLLECION OFAN EMINEN FAMILY, MUMBAI
44
BADRI NAR AYAN (1929 - 2013)Te Magician
Initialed in Devnagari (lower right); inscribed ‘”Te Magicby Badri Narayan’ and dated ‘5th June, 1986’ (on the rever1986Watercolour on paper21.25 x 21.25 in (53.7 x 53.7 cm)
Rs 6,00,000 - 8,00,000
$ 8,825 - 11,765
44
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M F HUSAIN (1913 - 2011)
Untitled
Signed ‘Husain’ (lower right)Oil on canvas36 x 48 in (91.4 x 121.9 cm)
Rs 80,00,000 - 1,00,00,000
$ 117,650 - 147,060
PROVENANCE:Gifted by the artist to the previous owner, Mumbai, 1983Private Collection, New Delhi
Husain was exposed to music from an early age, h
spent his childhood in Indore, an important cu
centre for Indian classical music. He painted works
as the present lot which are imbued with the so
of different ragas in classical music. His love for m
inspired him to create his well-known series of Raga
paintings in the 1960s.
Husain believed that true art is a combination o
the art forms. “It would be incorrect to treat the
paintings of musicians and dancers: not only are
not representational but Husain’s purpose in pai
them was clearly to render the spirit of those ar
visual images. Tis approach accords with the I
belief in the interdependence of art forms.” (Ric
Bartholomew and Shiv S Kapur, Husain , New York:
N Abrams, Inc., 1971, p. 42)
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Te present lot, titled Germination, shares t
an important series of paintings done by
he explores the idea of birth and growth
is the process of a seed growing into a plan
is discussed in theological texts and teach
of Hindu and Christian origins, which Raza
himself in after marrying Janine Mongillat
to the rural town of Gorbio in the sou
“Every morning Raza would stop by the a
in this village, spending ten to fifteen min
meditation; a process akin to emptying the
Sen, Bindu: Space and ime in Raza’s Visio
Media ransasia Ltd., 1997, p. 113) Raza’s si
is present as a representation of both t
which nature is created, as well as the em
human life is begun. Tis duality unites th
of man with nature and the bindu now bec
with emotion and vitality, where birth and
of life are emphasised.
“A painting grows gradua
organically. Te bija, the seed
the beginning of human life. T
miniscule point which is ene
condensed can grow from
embryonic form – to give bi
to a whole series of paintings. S H RAZA
© S H Raza
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PROPERY FROM HE COLLECION OF AN IMPORAN
FAMILY, NEW DELHI
46
S H RAZA (B. 1922)
Germination
Signed and dated ‘RAZA 87’ (lower right); signed and dated
again ‘RAZA 1987’ and inscribed ‘“GERMINAION” RAZA’(on the reverse)1987Acrylic on canvas39.25 x 39.25 in (100 x 100 cm)
Rs 2,50,00,000 - 3,50,00,000
$ 367,650 - 514,710
EXHIBIED:Modern Art , Mumbai: Te Arts rust, 2010
Surrounding the bindu are triangles framed within a horiz
plane which focuses attention to the centre of the pai
to create a horizon line, comprised of shades of brow
represent the earth. Underneath the bindu are a seri
inverted triangles which symbolise prakriti , or the fe
kinetic energy moving down towards the bottom o
painting. Tis suggests the process of germination in bot
seed and the embryo. Within the backdrop of the pai
there are other triangles which represent the purush o
male energy. When combined with the prakriti these fiprovide the fertilization of the embryo or Bindu, leadin
germination.
Tis painting was created in 1987, during a period in Raza
when he was drawn to his homeland and visited India
frequently. Te dominant earth tones of black and b
are reminiscent of the forested village of Kakaiya, from R
childhood and reveal his bond to his roots.
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PROPERY FROM HE COLLECION OF A DISINGUISHED FAMILY, NEW DELHI
47
S H RAZA (B. 1922)
riangles
Signed and dated ‘RAZA ‘2000’ (lower centre); signed and dated again‘RAZA 2000’ and inscribed ‘riangles’ (on the reverse)2000Acrylic on canvas39.25 x 39.25 in (100 x 100 cm)
Rs 1,20,00,000 - 1,50,00,000
$ 176,475 - 220,590
PROVENANCE:Acquired directly from the artist
riangles , composed of a sea of warm triangles
of varying transparencies is among Raza’s most
successful experimentations with shape and
colour. Over one hundred triangles are enclosed
within a bright red border. Almost all the triangles
pointing down are in colours that have been
painted over in black while the triangles pointing
up are comprised of Raza’s signature warm
colours. Tis creates a dichotomy present in much
of Raza’s work from the period, where structures
move both out and in. Te darker triangles directthe viewer’s eye down the painting while the
brighter triangles move the eye up, creating a
timeless meditative space where inner and outer
worlds converge. It is this juxtaposition of cubist
formalities and transparencies of colour which
give the painting a comprehensive sense of depth.
As in most of Raza’s work from this period, his
signature Bindu is present within the geometric
structure of his triangles.
Te present lot, painted in 2000, was created
almost exactly twenty years after Raza abandoned
gestural abstraction for a more spiritual art created
through formal abstractions which emulate
nature. It was also during this time that Raza began
to look towards Indian theology and spirituality to
embed more significant meaning in his work. Raza
manipulates the formal elements of art to place
the viewer in a space which is orchestrated by the
intensity of his vision of Nature. “Raza’s continuing
concern has been with Nature: with the elements
of nature which govern time and space and infuse
order into the universe. o express this concept,
he resorts to the principals which govern pictorial
language and which, in their turn, infuse order into
the canvas. Te vocabulary of the point, line, and
diagonal, of the square, circle, and triangle become
the essential components of his work.” (Geeti Sen,
Bindu: Space and ime in Raza’s Vision , New Delhi:
Media ransasia Ltd., 1997, p. 137)
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F N SOUZA (1924 - 2002)
Mutation
Signed and dated ‘Souza 68’ (upper left); inscribed ‘F. N.SOUZA MUAION’ (on the reverse)1968Oil on board48 x 36 in (122 x 91.3 cm)
Rs 70,00,000 - 90,00,000
$ 102,945 - 132,355
PROVENANCE:Estate of F N SouzaPrivate Collection, North India
EXHIBIED:Picasso Souza, New Delhi: Grosvenor Vadehra at Vadehra Art Gallery,17 December 2011 - 14 January 2012
PUBLISHED:
Aveek Sen, A Critic’s Eye , New Delhi: Photoink and Sepia International;Mumbai: Chatterjee & Lal, 2009 (illustrated)
“It is in depicting heads that Souza introduced his most
inventive features that bring to the fore his whole painterly
arsenal. His use of colour is conventional with thick, rigid
strokes of paint squeezed straight from the tube on to
the canvas. Teir burnished quality is reminiscent of the
old masters, its expressive content not fully exploited and
not in cohesion with the radical quality of the subject.”
(Yashodhara Dalmia, “A Passion for the Human Figure”,
he Making of Modern Indian Art , New Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 2001, p. 93)
Souza’s heads and human forms first appeared in the
late 1940s, undergoing gradual transformations over
time – from the cross-hatching technique that became
the hallmark of his early works, to loops, whorls and
squiggles delineating the distorted visages of his subjects.
Souza was inventive in his figurations; the iconic line of
his rigid heads, reminiscent of Romanesque art, gave way
to tubular forms, as seen in the present lot. Te circularspots scattered on the head and around it, resembling
pockmarks, had begun to appear in some of his works
during the 1960s. Te alien-like tentacles extending from
the face would become a more prominent feature as he
continued to experiment, well into the 1980s.
49
F N SOUZA (1924 - 2002)
Untitled
Signed and dated ‘Souza 96’ (upper left)1996Acrylic on board22.75 x 17.75 in (58.1 x 45.3 cm)
Rs 8,00,000 - 10,00,000
$ 11,765 - 14,710
PROVENANCE:Private Collection, North India
48
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Bawa’s work which explores the complex, non-verbal
relationship between man and animal has evolved with
subtlety over the decades. In the 1970s, his paintings “...
present man as a brute – a conqueror with sword and
shield... Over time, Bawa paints the two in harmony,
coming together as if in a trance, the focus on their
interlocking bodies.” (Amrita Jhaveri, A Guide to 101
Modern & Contemporary Indian Artists , Mumbai: India
Book House Pvt. Ltd., 2005, p. 16) Te present lot achieves
a subtle balance between man as conqueror of, and man
in harmony with, an animal.
“Te interaction between man and beast forms a vital
undercurrent in all [of] Bawa’s paintings. It is significant
that the meditational form in his canvas could be an
animal, as much as it could be a human form or deity.”
(Geeti Sen quoted in Ina Puri, Let’s Paint the Sky Red:
Manjit Bawa , New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery exhibitioncatalogue, 2011, p. 77)
Te present lot presents a lyrical composition of the
man and the dog, a harmony in the way both leap
forward. Both are modelled in a similar fashion that
makes them seem rubbery and boneless. Te dog’s rear
limb, for example, forms a single closed shape with his
tail, suggesting the fantastical. Commenting on Bawa’s
technique, Krishen Khanna says: “Te balloon-like shapes
found an easy transition into his human, animal and
plant shapes. He was making a philosophical assertion
in addition to the aesthetic which naturally followed. He
was implying that the same force inhabits all creation.”
(Puri, p. 101)
Bawa trained at the College of Art in Delhi, following
which he studied silkscreen printing in London. Te
technique he arrived at draws from two distinct
traditions: Pahari miniature painting, whose vocabulary
consisted of a fixed set of images, and silkscreen printing,
made up of smooth and flat colours. His figures, though
supple, rubbery and shaded with soft gradations that
stem from his training in silkscreen painting, possess the
gracefulness of those seen in miniature painting. Tis
grace carries forward in works such as the present lot,
and is used by the artist to suggest layers of hidden intent
in the actions of his figures.
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MANJI BAWA (1941 - 2008)
Untitled
Signed and dated ‘Manjit 95’ (lower right); signed again‘Manjit’ and signed in Devnagari (on the reverse)1995Oil on canvas21.5 x 19.25 in (54.5 x 48.8 cm)
Rs 30,00,000 - 40,00,000
$ 44,120 - 58,825
50
MANJI BAWA (1941 - 2008)
UntitledSigned and dated ‘Manjit Bawa 93’ (on the reverse)1993Oil on canvas45.75 x 53 in (116.5 x 134.5 cm)
Rs 1,75,00,000 - 2,25,00,000
$ 257,355 - 330,885
PROVENANCE:Private Collection, Mumbai
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Tis rare, early work by yeb Mehta is one of the
gestural expressionist paintings he made befor
trip to America in 1968 on a Rockefeller Found
Fellowship, where he embarked on his investig
into colour field painting. Composed of brown
red hues, the seated figures would blend into the
background, were it not for the animated gestur
the man on the left. His face, with its expressive fea
is the focal point of the canvas. In 1966, Mehta m
a series of drawings for Ebrahim Alkazi’s adaptatio
Euripides’ Te rojan Women (see reference im
and it is likely that the present lot stems from Me
interactions with the director at the National Sc
of Drama in New Delhi. Te sombre tones and dr
robes are similar to those used in the play. A solo
at the Kumar Gallery in New Delhi in 1966 highlig
similar works from that period, demonstrating a s
preoccupation with the subject.
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YEB MEHA (B. 1925)
Head
Signed and dated ‘yeb 89’ (lower left); bearingVadehra Art Gallery label on the frame (on the reverse)1989Pencil on paper9.75 x 6.75 in (24.7 x 17.3 cm)
Rs 18,00,000 - 22,00,000
$ 26,475 - 32,355
PROVENANCE:Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
EXHIBIED:Yashodhara Dalmia, yeb Mehta: riumph of Vision ,New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery,15 January - 18 February 2011
Reproduced from the newly released book Parul Dave-Mukherji ed., Ebrahim Alkazi Directing Art: Te Making of a ModernIndian Art World , Ahmedabad: Mapin Publishing Pvt. Ltd., 2016, pp. 56-57.
PROPERY OF A GENLEMAN, NEW DELHI
52
YEB MEHA (B. 1925)
Untitled1966Oil on canvas48.5 x 58 in (123.5 x 147.5 cm)
Rs 4,00,00,000 - 5,00,00,000
$ 588,240 - 735,295
PUBLISHED:Hoskote, Gandhi et al., yeb Mehta: Ideas Images Exchanges ,New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2005, p. 77 (illustrated)
Mehta was known to be a contemplative artist who
mused over his paintings for extended periods of time
before completing them. Making only a few paintings
a year, Mehta’s art always holds something thought
provoking. “Proceeding by an archaeology of motive
and decision, we may infer that he started with images
that had haunted him, burning themselves deep into his
mental circuitry. We may infer, also, that these obsessional
images, autobiographical in import, gradually gained
in significance as yeb externalised them, reflected on
them, and allowed them to shimmer against the wider
canvas of society.” (Hoskote, Gandhi et al., Ideas Images
Exchanges , New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2005, p. 14)
Te present lot already contains the juxtaposition of
emotional intensity and calm fragility which defines the
tension in his later works.
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PROPERY FROM HE COLLECION OF AN
IMPORAN FAMILY, NEW DELHI
54
GANESH PYNE (1937 - 2013)
Te Bones
Signed and dated in Bengali (lower right);signed, dated in Bengali and inscribed‘’HE BONES’ GANESH PYNE’ on a label,and bearing a Vadehra Art Gallery label(on the reverse)2006empera on canvas22.5 x 21.75 in (57 x 55 cm)
Rs 30,00,000 - 35,00,000
$ 44,120 - 51,475
EXHIBIED: A ribute to Ganesh Pyne , New Delhi: VadehraArt Gallery, 13-30 March 2013
Ganesh Pyne is “...a creator of atmospheres... When he painted through the
night in his room in his shadow-webbed ancestral house during the 1970s
and 1980s, his works would take on the aura of the night, come alive with
nocturnal moods and forms.” (Ranjit Hoskote, Ganesh Pyne: A Pilgrim in
the Dominion of Shadows , Kolkata: Gallerie 88 exhibition catalogue, 2005,
p. 16) Painted in 2006, the soft glow of the candle illuminating a pitch dark
room highlights Pyne’s mastery over colour and technique to evoke light
and shadow.
“Pyne’s ‘signature’ style is shaped by his own experiences of solitude and
alienation that he had lived through and aided by the pain and horror he
had witnessed in the city of Calcutta during the sixties of the last century.
What surfaced in his art however appear as mysteriously enriched with
moods of tenderness and calm serenity, rich with visual depth in which
every single stroke appear charged with muted eloquence.” (Arun Ghose,
Jottings as Paintings of Ganesh Pyne , Agra: Sanchit Art Gallery, 2014, p. 2)
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BIKASH BHAACHARJEE (1940 - 2006)
Untitled (In his Office)
1975Conte with a thick lacquer coating on paper pasted onplywood35.5 x 29.25 in (90 x 74.6 cm)
Rs 30,00,000 - 40,00,000
$ 44,120 - 58,825
PROVENANCE:Private Collection, New Delhi
PUBLISHED:Manasij Majumder,Close to Events: Works of Bikash Bhattacharjee ,New Delhi: Niyogi Offset Pvt. Ltd., 2007, pp. 102, 243 (illustrated)
“In the Indian art scenario from the 1960s onwards, the
name Bikash Bhattacharjee stands for a vast body of work
marked by three unmistakable features – vivid, almost
photographic realism, human figure as the central motif
and a strong-veined content.” (Manasij Majumder, “Tink
of the Subject First”, Close to Events: Works of Bikash
Bhattacharjee , New Delhi: Niyogi Offset Pvt. Ltd., 2007, p.
96) In the present lot, Bikash subverts the central motif by
showing a monkey head suspended from a string. Such
works reflected “his private perceptions of the realities of
life, which in the ‘60s were marked by bitter irony, strident
protest and resentment.” (Majumder, p. 118)
Bhattacharjee follows a unique painting process. “I try to
achieve volume in my paintings by a process that I think
is not too common in this country. Most of the Indian
artists who use oil as their medium lay on their colours
direct... I prefer to lay on dark colours first and then build
up the lights and highlights. Tis process has helped meto give dimension to my pictures, to say what I want to,
and also to give the canvas the textures and the character
that I desire.” (Te artist in an interview with Arany
Banerjee, “Bikash Bhattacharjee,” Lalit Kala Contemporary
15 , New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi, 1973, p. 18)
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PROPERY FROM HE COLLECION OF AN EMINEN FAMILY, MUMBAI
57
BIKASH BHAACHARJEE (1940 - 2006)Untitled
Signed and dated ‘Bikash 92’ (lower right); inscribed ‘”AND ALAKENDU”BY BIKASH BHAACHARJEE 1992’ (on the reverse)1992Oil on canvas41.75 x 36 in (106 x 91.2 cm)
Rs 30,00,000 - 40,00,000
$ 44,120 - 58,825
56
SOMNAH HORE (1921 - 2006)Untitled
Initialed ‘S’ (lower right); signed and dated‘Somenath Hore ‘60’ (on the reverse)1960Paper collage on paper10.5 x 14.25 in (26.4 x 36.5 cm)
Rs 3,00,000 - 5,00,000
$ 4,415 - 7,355
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SAKI BURMAN (B. 1935)
Untitled
Signed ‘SAKI BURMAN’ (lower left)Watercolour on paper19 x 24.75 in (48 x 63 cm)
Rs 2,00,000 - 3,00,000
$ 2,945 - 4,415
58
K LAXMA GOUD (B. 1940)
Untitled
Signed in elugu (lower right)Acrylic and marker on glass29.5 x 21.5 in (74.7 x 54.5 cm)
Rs 5,00,000 - 7,00,000
$ 7,355 - 10,295
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PROPERY FROM AN IMPORAN PRIVAE COLLECION, MUMBAI
60
KRISHEN KHANNA (B. 1925)
Pieta
Signed ‘K Khanna’ (lower right); signed again ‘K Khanna’ andinscribed ‘KRISHEN KHANNA “PIEA”’ (on the reverse)Oil on canvas71.5 x 51.5 in (181.6 x 131 cm)
Rs 70,00,000 - 90,00,000
$ 102,945 - 132,355
EXHIBIED:Krishen Khanna , London: Royal Academy of Art, 19-24 March 2007Krishen Khanna: A Retrospective , New Delhi: Rabindra Bhavan, Lalit KalaAkademi, 23 January - 5 February 2010
PUBLISHED:Khanna, Lynton, et al., Contemporary Indian Artists Series - KrishenKhanna: Images In My ime , Ahmedabad: Mapin Publishing Pvt. Ltd.,2007, p. 131 (illustrated)
Krishen Khanna: A Retrospective , Saffronart exhibition catalogue, 2010(illustrated) Krishen Khanna’s Pieta is his distinct interpretation
of an iconic image from Christianity, which has been
portrayed by artists all over the world for centuries.
Te seated Mother Mary cradling the exhausted
Christ after his descent from the cross is an image
Khanna returns to several times during his career.
“Te Pieta paintings relate to his concern with the
subject of the dead and the dying, as much as with
the persecuted figure of the Christ ... Te Pieta is
among the few maternal figures in Khanna’s oeuvre,
and his interpretation of the figure varies in its palette,
as well as the reworking of the pyramidal structure.”
(Gayatri Sinha, Krishen Khanna: he Embrace of Love ,
Ahmedabad: Mapin Publishing Pvt. Ltd., 2005, p. 25)
Mary’s hand to the head is a quintessentially Indian
gesture of grief and desperation. It contrasts with the
stoic Mary in western interpretations. Te stark cross
in the background adds to the gravitas of the scene.
Khanna’s enduring interest in religious symbolism,
particularly Christian imagery, is rooted in a childhood
of summers spent at a vicarage in war-torn England,
and developed by a print of Leonardo da Vinci’s he
Last Supper , given to him by his father. During the
late 1960s, Khanna worked on a series of paintings
of Christ, from he Last Supper , to Christ’s Descent
from the Cross. “Khanna’s engagement with biblical
allegory and Hindu myth has served as his instrument
of engagement during troubled periods in Indian
polity.” (Sinha, p. 17)Michelangelo'sPietà in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.
Image courtesy of Stanislav raykov, Niabot (cut out), via Wikimedia Commons
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61
RAM KUMAR (B. 1924)
Untitled
Signed in Devnagari and dated ‘76’ (lower centre)1976Acrylic and ink on paper8 x 6.5 in (20.3 x 16.5 cm)
Rs 6,00,000 - 8,00,000
$ 8,825 - 11,765
62
RAM KUMAR (B. 1924)
Untitled
Signed in Devnagari and dated ‘71’ (lower right); bearingPundole Art Gallery label on the stretcher (on the reverse)1971Oil on canvas55 x 33 in (139.7 x 83.8 cm)
Rs 40,00,000 - 50,00,000
$ 58,825 - 73,530
PROVENANCE:Pundole Art Gallery, MumbaiPrivate Collection, MalaysiaPrivate Collection, UK
8/19/2019 Feb Auc 16 Catalogue
65/97
Saffronart | Evening Sale
63
S H RAZA (B. 1922)
Paysage Nocturne
Signed and dated ‘RAZA ‘60’ (lower right); signed, dated andinscribed ‘RAZA “Paysage Nocturne” P.288 ‘60’ (on the reverse)1960Oil on canvas16.25 x 13 in (41 x 33 cm)
Rs 25,00,000 - 30,00,000
$ 36,765 - 44,120
PROVENANCE:Private Collection, FrancePrivate Collection, India
8/19/2019 Feb Auc 16 Catalogue
66/97
Saffronart | Evening Sale
64
M F HUSAI
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