F N SOUZA : WORKS FROM THE COLLECTION OF BARBARA ZINKANT, MUMBAI LIVE (17 DECEMBER 2022)

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RAM KUMAR (1924‒2018)

Untitled

Signed and dated ‘Ram Kumar 1961’ (on the reverse)
1961
Oil on canvas
12.75 x 24.75 in (32.4 x 62.9 cm)

$ 40,000 ‒ 50,000
Rs 28,80,000 ‒ 36,00,000

PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist
Saffronart, 6‒7 June 2017, lot 8
Private Collection, UAE

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K G Subramanyan K G Subramanyan was a painter, muralist,
© Jyoti Bhatt sculptor, printmaker, as well as a writer
and illustrator of children’s books. A
52 constantly evolving artistic career that spanned
over six decades saw Subramanyan experimenting
with a variety of forms that included his well‒
known reverse glass and acrylic paintings and
terracotta murals. The grid‒like compositions of
the latter, in particular, played an important role
in the painting style used in his later works.

Subramanyan considered himself to be “a
fabulist” who transformed images, making them
“float, fly, perform, tell a visual story.” As a result,
his pictures were “playful and spontaneous” and
built around well‒known themes. (Artist quoted
in an interview with R Siva Kumar, New Works: K
G Subramanyan, Kolkata: Seagull Foundation of
the Arts, 2014)

Subramanyan’s art paid particular focus to Indian
folk stories, mythical characters, and animals
since the 1980s. They were usually juxtaposed
against real‒life figures in order to offer an
interpretation that was uniquely his. “He uses
them as metaphors to animate the everyday
world in various ways – sometimes in celebration,
sometimes in sly irony, and sometimes in gentle
indignation.” (R Siva Kumar, “A Playful and Poetic
Vision,” Mythologies: K G Subramanyan, Kolkata:
Galerie 88, 2013, p. 8)

This is evident in Facing the Beast (3), where
Subramanyan depicts the multi‒armed goddess
Durga descending from heaven to slay the asura in
the form of a bovine creature. Here, Subramanyan
brings into play “all manner of revenge with
the heraldry of triumph associated with
Mahishasuramardini. There is here a subversive
crossover of human and beast, taking off from
the encounter between the goddess and an
assortment of asura figures – all choreographed
into a balletic spree, brutal chase.” (Geeta Kapur,
When was Modernism: Essays on Contemporary
Cultural Practice in India, New Delhi: Tulika Books,
2000, p. 136)

“My works have always sought to move between the real and
the imaginary.”  K G SUBRAMANYAN

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE CORPORATE EXHIBITED
COLLECTION, MUMBAI Regarding the Drawings of K G Subramanyan, Mumbai:
The Guild, 30 September – 25 October 2010
64
PUBLISHED
K G SUBRAMANYAN (1924‒2016) Prof. R Siva Kumar and Prof. K G Subramanyan, Regarding
the Drawings of K G Subramanyan, Mumbai: The Guild,
Facing the Beast (3) 2010 (illustrated)

Initialled in Bengali (lower centre); inscribed
‘K.G.SUBRAMANYAN/ “Facing the Beast” (3)’ (on
the reverse)
Gouache on paper
44 x 51.75 in (112 x 131.5 cm)

$ 41,670 ‒ 55,560
Rs 30,00,000 ‒ 40,00,000

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KRISHEN KHANNA (b.1925)

Untitled

Signed ‘KKhanna’ (lower right); inscribed and signed ‘“The high caught hooded
falcon/ breaths upon my wrist/ fettered by so tenuous leash of steel/ We are
bound for the purple marshes/ many leagues away/ With a fair expectation of
quarry”/ (Sir) Herbert Read./ KKhanna’ (on the reverse)
Acrylic and charcoal on canvas
70 x 46 in (178 x 117 cm)

$ 41,670 ‒ 55,560
Rs 30,00,000 ‒ 40,00,000

PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist
An Important Private Collection, New Delhi

EXHIBITED
Krishen Khanna, New Delhi: Saffronart, 16 December 2016 ‒ 15 January 2017

O ne of the leading figures of India’s stick/crayon comprising graphite or charcoal. The
modernist movement, Krishen Khanna man and the bird on his arm in the present lot are
is globally renowned for an artistic idiom represented in stark detail, evoking movement and a
that is structurally rooted in the aesthetics of clarity of form that is quintessentially Khanna in style.
European modernism while his subject matter takes
direct inspiration from the harsh socio‒political Krishen Khanna in his studio
reality of his times. Bordering on the narrative,
Khanna’s work captures moments in history, much
like photographs do, but the artist’s technique is far
from photorealist. Khanna transfers his observations
onto the canvas with spontaneity and exuberance,
keeping the representational elements of his subject
matter intact.

Khanna’s work is largely figurative and tends to focus
more on the human condition due to his experiences
with Partition as well as what he observed around
him. “I used to do abstracts earlier and I have
now moved on to human forms… I want to now
emphasise the human beings caught up in their
particular condition.” (Artist quoted in an interview
with Surendra Kumar Seth, Saffronart, online)

Khanna’s black and white works occupy a space of
their own in his extensive body of work. The lack of
colour only serves to enhance his use of black ink or

54

“I have used monochrome because if there is something
I want to say, it is best to avoid the dynamics of colour.”

 KRISHEN KHANNA

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“The art that is born out of struggle is different…I create at my
own pace. Thought goes into my works.”  TYEB MEHTA

T yeb Mehta’s art is complex and layered. It expresses a sense of “disquiet that is barely held in check by
the seam of the line” and we, as viewers, can only “bear helpless witness to the predicaments into which
the artist knits his singular, isolated protagonists.” (Ranjit Hoskote, Ramachandra Guha et al., Tyeb Mehta:
Ideas Images Exchanges, New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, p. 3)
The six decades of Mehta’s artistic career can be traced through the presence of an evolving central figure that is
often distorted, caught in free fall, a flurry of body parts without a clear shape. From his iconic Falling Figure series
to the trussed bull, Mehta explored a concise repertoire of subjects through an artistic career marked by quiet
intensity. His figures, whether human, animal, or bird, conveyed a sense of disquieting torment and trauma. These
figures in crisis were both silent victims and merciless aggressors: unforgiving goddesses fighting demons to the
death, browbeaten rickshaw‒pullers, defeated bulls trussed and ready for slaughter, and humans and/or birds
hurtling through the void.
Born in Gujarat in 1926, Mehta was raised in Bombay and spent his summers at his grandmother’s home in
Calcutta. After he finished school, Mehta joined a film studio specialising in documentaries as an assistant in
1945. Two years later, the political circumstances of India’s independence, and the Partition that followed, made it
difficult for Mehta to continue working there.

57

With communal riots dividing Bombay, it was dangerous for someone like Mehta, who lived in a known Muslim
quarter, to cross what had then become hostile areas of the city. Mehta’s experiences from this tragic period
played an important role in shaping the overarching existential quest of his art. Recalling an episode from his early
twenties, Mehta says, “There were elements of violence in my childhood...One incident left a deep impression
on me. At the time of partition, I was living on Mohammad Ali Road, which was virtually a Muslim ghetto. I
remember watching a young man being slaughtered in the street below my window. The crowd beat him to
death, smashed his head with stones. I was sick with fever for days afterwards and the image still haunts me today.”
(Hoskote, Guha et al., pp. 340‒341)
While the socio‒political milieu of the late 1940s, and specific episodes of the violence it spawned, played an
important role in the definition of his practice, Mehta’s work also played a critical role in the definition of modern
art in a newly independent India. Along with his associates in the Bombay‒based Progressive Artists’ Group,
Mehta was instrumental in redefining the boundaries of artistic expression in India and extending its engagement
with the viewer and society.
Mehta’s style went through a period of expressionism in the late 1950s and early 1960s and ultimately settled on
the minimalism of his later canvases with their flat planes of colour and unfinished lines. And yet, the treatment
of his iconic central figure has remained a constant in Mehta’s work throughout. “In Tyeb’s paintings, the figure
is the bearer of all drama, momentum and crisis, a detonation against the ground it occupies and commands;
by contrast, the field appears, at first sight, to be all flattened colour, a series of bland, featureless planes that
impede the manifestation of the figure, or even fragment the figure into intriguing shards. Only gradually does the
eye, unpuzzling the painting, recognise that Tyeb treats figure and field as interlocked and not separate entities.”
(Hoskote, Guha et al., p. 4)
An additional element that marked a seminal moment in the evolution of Mehta’s artistic career was the
introduction of the diagonal. Mehta realised “that the surface could be activated by mobilising its tonal values”
when he encountered “the works of artists like Barnett Newman in their use of large Colour Field areas and the
decisive division of space” during his stay in the U.S. upon receiving the Rockefeller III Fund Fellowship. (Yashodhara
Dalmia, Tyeb Mehta: Triumph of Vision, New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2011, p.9)

58

Tyeb Mehta
Image courtesy the artist’s family

59

Sakina Mehta with Untitled (Blue Bird)
Image courtesy the artist’s family

60

“An artist comes to terms with certain images. He arrives at
certain conventions by a process of reduction.”  TYEB MEHTA

According to Mehta, the diagonal, thus, became a way “to activate a canvas. If I divided it horizontally and
vertically, I merely created a preponderance of smaller squares or rectangles. But if I cut the canvas with a diagonal,
I immediately created a certain dislocation. I was able to distribute and divide a figure within the two created
triangles and automatically disjoint and fragment it. Yet the diagonal maintained an almost centrifugal unity…in
fact became a pictorial element in itself.” (Artist quoted in Hoskote, Guha et al., p. 343)
The present lot, depicting a blue bird in free fall, has its roots in Mehta’s Falling Figure series, which he first began
painting in the mid‒1960s. By the late‒1980s, Mehta had begun morphing the falling figure with that of a bird, a
flurry of limbs and feathers, merging into a strange, composite creature. The concept of free fall was perhaps inspired
by Albert Camus, whose characters drift in a world of sensations, as well as the myth of Icarus and Phaethon, with
the hero “being punished for an unwitting transgression, an unintended display of pride or recklessness: thus, the
evocation of free fall is also a minatory reminder of the gravity of fate.” (Hoskote, Guha et al., p. 17)
Mehta started focussing more on the falling bird as the central figure in his paintings in the 1980s. He elaborates,
“I did the first drawing of the bird as far back as 1983 but as I went along I generally began to feel that the bird
always flies so why not make it fall – it’s a contradiction in terms. The bird can be made without bringing in flying
because that has a different kind of body‒lifting movement. Falling means you have more or less given up. It’s an
interesting idea because I work on fragmentation. It’s one of my preoccupations.” (Artist quoted in Dalmia, p. 25)
Unlike the chaotic abyss of his earliest Falling Figure works, the present lot reflects influences of the Colour Field
paintings of American abstractionists like Newman, whose “monochromatic fields of color and strong vertical
dividing lines proved critical for Mehta’s own pictorial vocabulary.” (Edward Saywell, Bharat Ratna! Jewels of Modern
Indian Art, Boston: Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 2009‒10, p. 11)
In Untitled (Blue Bird), the vibrant blue bird hurtles downwards, “its feathers echoing dismembered hands.” (Dalmia,
p. 25) By contrasting the blue bird sharply against a flat plane, Mehta manages to create a powerful painting that
is deceptively simple in its marked complexity that combines concept, line, and composition. He accords the
work its own enigmatic narrative, thus positioning it against some of the most iconic Mehta works that are highly
sought after by connoisseurs and collectors alike.

61

The trajectory of Mehta’s artistic career can be traced through PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF TYEB MEHTA
the presence of an evolving central figure that inevitably
conveys a sense of disquieting torment and trauma. 66

Kali, 1989 TYEB MEHTA (1925‒2009)
Saffronart, 13‒14 June 2018, lot 33
Sold for Rs 26.38 crores ($3.99 million), most expensive Untitled (Blue Bird)
painting by the artist sold in auction globally
2007
Rickshaw Puller, 2002 Acrylic on canvas
Saffronart, 19‒20 April 2021, lot 13 49 x 39.25 in (124.7 x 99.7 cm)
Sold for Rs 20.59 crores ($2.86 million)
$ 1,111,115 ‒ 1,388,890
Rs 8,00,00,000 ‒ 10,00,00,000

EXHIBITED
Tyeb Mehta: Triumph of Vision, New Delhi: Vadehra Art
Gallery, 15 January ‒ 18 February 2011

PUBLISHED
Yashodhara Dalmia, Tyeb Mehta: Triumph of Vision, New
Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2011, p. 43 (illustrated)

Untitled (Standing Figure), 1982 The present lot published in Yashodhara Dalmia, Tyeb Mehta: Triumph
Saffronart, New Delhi, 10 September 2015, lot 23 of Vision, New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2011, p. 43 (illustrated)
Sold for Rs 11.51 crores ($1.77 million)

Falling Figure with Bird, 1988
Saffronart, 19‒20 September 2012, lot 40
Sold for Rs 9.63 crores ($1.81 million)
62

63

67

TYEB MEHTA (1925‒2009)

Head

Signed, dated and inscribed ‘Tyeb 57/ Head’ (lower right)
and further inscribed ‘1/35’ (lower left)
Lithograph on paper
Print size: 15.25 x 11 in (38.9 x 28.1 cm)
Sheet size: 17.5 x 17.25 in (44.5 x 43.5 cm)

$ 5,560 ‒ 8,335
Rs 4,00,000 ‒ 6,00,000
First from a limited edition of thirty‒five

PROVENANCE
Saffronart, 18‒19 May 2011, lot 38
Private Collection, Mumbai

64

PROPERTY FROM AN
IMPORTANT INTERNATIONAL
COLLECTION

68

TYEB MEHTA (1925‒2009)

Untitled

Signed and dated ‘Tyeb 88’
(upper left)
1988
Graphite on paper
10.75 x 7.25 in (27.5 x 18.5 cm)

$ 20,000 ‒ 30,000
Rs 14,40,000 ‒ 21,60,000

PROVENANCE
Pundole’s, 9 April 2015, lot 237
Acquired from the above

EXHIBITED
Tyeb Mehta: Triumph of Vision,
New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 15
January – 18 February 2011

PUBLISHED
Yashodhara Dalmia, Tyeb Mehta:
Triumph of Vision, New Delhi:
Vadehra Art Gallery, 2011, p. 68
(illustrated)

The present lot published in Yashodhara Dalmia, Tyeb Mehta: Triumph
of Vision, New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2011, p. 68 (illustrated)

65

Tyeb Mehta His paintings in sombre tones could loosely be
Image courtesy the artist’s family termed expressionistic and articulated the fate of
individuals who were in some way cornered by fate.”
T yeb Mehta has “consistently sought the (Yashodhara Dalmia, Tyeb Mehta: A Triumph of Vision,
autonomy of the image and authenticity New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2011, p. 5) Several
of expression” in all his works. (Yashodhara works from this early phase, including the present
Dalmia, “Tyeb Mehta,” Journeys: Four Generations of lot, depict human figures who appear to be made
Indian Artists in Their Own Words – Volume I, New of wet clay, just emerging out of the earth to which
Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 87) they belong. This dramatic heaviness of form was
While minimalist figuration became an integral part an early manifestation of his recurring concern with
of his later works, his paintings from the late 1950s the human condition, though Mehta’s works from a
and early 60s are markedly different and are “typified decade later show his move to the opposite end of
by a direct rendering of experience on the surface. the spectrum wherein he created lighter figures with
the help of a brighter palette.
66
Painted in 1961 during his stay in England, Untitled
(Figure of a Woman) has Mehta using an almost
monochromatic palette to portray a weighty, seated
female figure who appears to be lost in contemplation.
Her face, with its forlorn features, speaks of grief and
defeat – emotions that are echoed by her body as
well, with one arm pillowing her head and the other
resting on her raised knee as though unable to stand
up against the weight of the despair surrounding her.

The canvas is layered with thick, impasto‒laden
brushwork through which the figure is revealed. “The
thickly stroked paint would layer the surface with a
heavy patina of disquiet. The rendering of colours,
of equal tonality and applied in verisimilitude,
provided a cohesion, which would yet seem like a
fierce interlocking. A compressed battle would ensue
also between figure and the space surrounding it.”
(Dalmia, p. 5)

The female form in the present lot dominates the
canvas, as is the case with many of the figures in
Mehta’s early and later works. By placing her front and
centre, and using only subtle variations of hue and
tone, Mehta blurs the boundaries between object
and context. “These are landscapes of the human
spirit, forlorn and tragic and uncomprisingly [sic]
alone.” (Ebrahim Alkazi quoted in Ranjit Hoskote,
Ramachandra Guha et al., Tyeb Mehta: Ideas Images
Exchanges, New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2005, p.
371)

“In the early work, expression was all‒important...I was painting
from the gut.”  TYEB MEHTA

67

Mehta’s works from the late 1950s and PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT COLLECTION, NEW DELHI
early 60s depict human figures who appear
to be made out of wet clay, signifying a 69
dramatic heaviness of form that was an early
manifestation of his recurring concern with TYEB MEHTA (1925‒2009)
the human condition.
Untitled (Figure of a Woman)
Falling Figure, 1965
Saffronart, Mumbai, 1961
16 February 2017, lot 46 Oil on canvas
Sold for Rs 6 crores ($909,091) 49 x 39 in (124.5 x 99.1 cm)

$ 555,560 ‒ 694,445
Rs 4,00,00,000 ‒ 5,00,00,000

PROVENANCE
Bear Lane Gallery, Oxford
Christie’s, London, 21 May 2007, lot 33

EXHIBITED
Indian Painting Now, London: Commonwealth Institute,
8 January ‒ 7 February 1965
South Asian Artists at Work in London, London: Bear Lane Gallery,
1 November ‒ 30 November 1965

PUBLISHED
George Butcher, Tyeb Mehta, London: The Guardian, 1965
(illustrated)
Indian Painting Now, London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1965
(illustrated)
Ranjit Hoskote, Ramachandra Gandhi et al., Tyeb Mehta: Ideas,
Images, Exchanges, New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2005, p. 59
(illustrated)

Falling Figure, 1965 The present lot published in Ranjit Hoskote, Ramachandra Gandhi et al., Tyeb
Saffronart, 6‒7 June 2017, lot 98 Mehta: Ideas, Images, Exchanges, New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2005, p. 59
Sold for Rs 4.27 crores ($667,500) (illustrated)

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F N SOUZA (1924‒2002)

Untitled
Signed and dated ‘Souza 59’ (lower left)
1959
Pencil on paper
8 x 13 in (20.2 x 33.1 cm)
$ 2,780 ‒ 4,170
Rs 2,00,000 ‒ 3,00,000

PROVENANCE
Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi

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71

SOMNATH HORE (1921‒2006)

Untitled (Wound Series)
Signed and dated ‘Somnath Hore 1977’ (lower right),
inscribed ‘Artist’s Proof’ (lower left)
1977
Paper pulp print pasted on mount board
19.25 x 23.5 in (48.8 x 59.7 cm)
$ 20,835 ‒ 27,780
Rs15,00,000 ‒ 20,00,000
This is an artist’s proof
PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist’s family
EXHIBITED
Memories Arrested in Space, Mumbai: Akara Art, 26
March ‒ 5 May 2021

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PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF SANTOSH JAIN
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SOMNATH HORE (1921‒2006)

Untitled
Signed and dated ‘Somnath Hore 4.8.67’ (lower right),
inscribed ‘Trial proof 1’ (lower left)
1967
Etching on paper
Print size: 8.25 x 9.75 in (21 X 24.5 cm)
Sheet size: 11 x 15.25 (28.2 x 38.5 cm)
$ 3,475 ‒ 4,865
Rs 2,50,000 ‒ 3,50,000
This is the trial proof
PROVENANCE
Received as a gift from the artist

72

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF SANTOSH JAIN
73

RAMESHWAR BROOTA (b.1941)

That Long History Of Man
Signed and dated ‘R. Broota 72’ (lower left), inscribed
‘That Long history of man’ (lower centre) and further
inscribed ‘Artists proof 4/5’ (lower right)
1972
Etching on paper
Print size: 6.75 x 24.75 in (17 x 62.8 cm)
Sheet size: 8.25 x 28 in (20.7 x 71 cm)
$ 3,475 ‒ 4,865
Rs 2,50,000 ‒ 3,50,000
This is an artist’s proof, fourth from a limited edition of five
PROVENANCE
Received as a gift from the artist

“I love to believe that it was I who traveled through the long
stretches of time and space. Here I am, standing, and there he is,
my old self, peeping through the canvas. The cave man used to
scratch and draw on those dark cave walls the movement of his
fellow beings and some running animals. I believe I must have
existed even then as an artist, as I do now.”  RAMESHWAR BROOTA

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K M ADIMOOLAM (1938‒2008)

Untitled
Signed and dated ‘Adimoolam/ 2002’ (lower left);
signed, inscribed and dated twice ‘Adimoolam/
2002/ (K.M. ADIMOOLAM)/ 2002’ (on the reverse)
2002
Oil on canvas
40 x 44 in (101.6 x 111.8 cm)
$ 4,170 ‒ 6,945
Rs 3,00,000 ‒ 5,00,000
PROVENANCE
Crimson ‒ The Art Resource, Bangalore
Private Collection, New Delhi

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BADRI NARAYAN (1929‒2013)

The Flight

Initialled in Devnagari (lower right); inscribed and
dated ‘“The Flight’’/ by Badri Narayan/ 21st Jan 1992’
(on the reverse)
1992
Watercolour on paper
21.5 x 29.25 in (54.5 x 74.1 cm)

$ 11,115 ‒ 13,890
Rs 8,00,000 ‒ 10,00,000

PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist in Bombay, circa 1990s
Private Collection, Germany
Private Collection, New Delhi

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RAM KUMAR (1924‒2018)

Untitled
Signed and dated ‘Ram Kumar 02’ (on the reverse)
2002
Oil on canvas
40.25 x 60 in (102.5 x 152.7 cm)
$ 83,335 ‒ 97,225
Rs 60,00,000 ‒ 70,00,000

PROVENANCE
Saffronart, New Delhi, 4 September 2014, lot 75
Private Collection, New Delhi

"As I began to paint, the landscapes
came naturally and gradually,
the outlines faded into abstracts...
There 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. This continues. There is
a pause, a silence, an accident and
in the end some sort of harmony."

 RAM KUMAR

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F N Souza, 1973
StoryLTD, 18‒19 July 2017, lot 32 p)

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“I express myself freely in paint in order to exist.”

 F N SOUZA

B orn and brought up in a Roman‒Catholic family in Goa, F N Souza had
a complex relationship with Christianity. While he struggled to find an
unquestioning faith in religion or its practitioners, he was unswerving in
his fascination for the religious iconography that played a key role in developing
his artistic vocabulary. “The Roman Catholic Church had a tremendous influence
over me, not its dogmas but its grand architecture and the splendour of its services.
The priest, dressed in richly embroidered vestments, each of his garments from
the biretta to the chasuble symbolising the accoutrement of Christ’s passion.
These wooden saints painted with gold and bright colours staring vacantly out
of their niches. The smell of incense. And the enormous Crucifix with the impaled
image of a Man supposed to be the Son of God, scourged and dripping, with
matted hair tangled in plaited thorns.” (Yashodhara Dalmia, “A Passion for the
Human Figure,” The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives, New Delhi:
Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 81)
His early figurative works set the precedent for a unique style – one that peeled
away the appearance and instead revealed his subjects’ character, personality,
and even their obsessions and depravations. “Many of the tendencies that
became distinct in Souza’s later years could be detected in these early works.
The thick, bounding line, the distortion of the figure and the dislocation of facial
characteristics had already begun to mark his style.” (Dalmia, p. 80)

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77 The present lot published in R Brown, Goddess, Lion, Peasant, Priest:
Modern and Contemporary Indian Art from the Collection of Shelly and
F N SOUZA (1924‒2002) Donald Rubin, Atlanta: Oglethorpe University Museum of Art, 2010, p.
159 (illustrated)
Untitled (Priest at Altar)

Signed and dated ‘Souza 1966’ (centre right)
1966
Oil and marker on cloth
50.75 x 33.25 in (129 x 84.5 cm)

$ 97,225 ‒ 125,000
Rs 70,00,000 ‒ 90,00,000

PROVENANCE
Kumar Gallery, New Delhi
Private Collection, New York
Sotheby’s, New York, 3 ‒ 20 March 2017, lot 2030
Private Collection, New Delhi

EXHIBITED
Goddess, Lion, Peasant, Priest: Modern and Contemporary
Indian Art from the Collection of Shelley and Donald Rubin,
Atlanta: Oglethorpe University Museum of Art, 15 March
– 15 May 2011
Goddess, Lion, Peasant, Priest: Modern and Contemporary
Indian Art from the Shelley and Donald Rubin Private
Collection, Ewing: The College of New Jersey, 19 October –
16 December 2012

PUBLISHED
R Brown, Goddess, Lion, Peasant, Priest: Modern and
Contemporary Indian Art from the Collection of Shelly and
Donald Rubin, Atlanta: Oglethorpe University Museum of
Art, 2010, p. 159 (illustrated)

Souza’s artistic representations of the human figure thus reflect his lifelong interest in characterisation, self‒
deprecation, and the human condition. This is evident through his “dextrous use of line” that helped “evolve a
unique visual language,” his trademark crosshatching technique that later progressed to loops and whorls, tubular
structures, and systematic distortion, as noted in the present lot. (Aziz Kurtha, Francis Newton Souza: Bridging
Western and Indian Modern Art, Ahmedabad: Mapin Publishing Pvt. Ltd., 2006, p. 134)

Painted during a period where Souza produced some of his best works, Untitled (Priest at Altar) sees him using
highly expressionistic and gestural brushstrokes to highlight the priest in his religious garb standing in front of an
altar. Souza ensures his features remain undefinable, thus stripping the priest of a clear identity and making him
represent all clergy members espousing similar religious sermons.

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78 Krishen Khanna in his studio

KRISHEN KHANNA (b.1925)

Untitled
Signed ‘KKhanna’ (lower right and on the reverse)
Oil on canvas
35.75 x 30 in (90.8 x 76 cm)
$ 18,000 ‒ 24,000
Rs 12,96,000 ‒ 17,28,000

PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist
Private Collection, UAE

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PARESH MAITY (b.1965)

After the Night Watch
Signed and dated ‘Paresh Maity ‘06’ (lower right);
signed, dated and inscribed ‘Paresh Maity ‘06/ After
the night watch’ (on the reverse)
2006
Oil on canvas
47.75 x 95.25 in (121 x 242 cm)
$ 25,000 ‒ 33,335
Rs 18,00,000 ‒ 24,00,000
PROVENANCE
Acquired from Gallery Sumukha, Bengaluru

83



Lots 80–100

Closing Time: Thursday, 14 October 2021
8.30 pm (IST) | 11 am (US Eastern Time)

B Prabha entered the art
world at a time when
India had few female
artists. As a result, her works
covered many of her concerns
that were related to the lives of
rural women and the hardships
they faced and the emotions
they left unexpressed. The
women in her works project
a regal elegance that is further
highlighted by the colourful
sarees and accessories that act as
an indicator of their background
and lifestyle.

The female figure in the present
lot is placed against a muted
background that acts as a
contrast to the brighter, more
earthy colours of her attire.
The graceful, seated posture
of the subject, who appears to
be in deep thought, portrays
a sense of melancholy and
solitude. The elongated features
are a trademark of Prabha’s
oeuvre and help in catching
the viewer’s attention. Prabha’s
works contrast the gender
inequality and identity crises
faced by these women with their
inherent beauty and strength in
an attempt to bring light to their
unspoken emotions.

B Prabha
Image courtesy of Nayana Sarmalkar

86

“The core theme of my paintings was always women.”

 B PRABHA

PROPERTY OF A LADY, NEW DELHI

80

B PRABHA (1933‒2001)

Untitled

Signed and dated in Devnagari (centre left)
1996
Oil on canvas
32 x 32 in (81 x 81 cm)

$ 12,500 ‒ 16,670
Rs 9,00,000 ‒ 12,00,000

PROVENANCE
Chawla Art Gallery, New Delhi

87

81

SENAKA SENANAYAKE (b.1951)

Untitled
Signed and dated ‘2019/ Senaka Senanayake’ (lower left)
2019
Acrylic on canvas
36 x 24 in (91.7 x 61.1 cm)
$ 13,890 ‒ 16,670
Rs 10,00,000 ‒ 12,00,000

PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist
Private Collection, Mumbai

88

82

RANBIR KALEKA (b.1953)

Cordillera Harmony
Signed, dated and inscribed ‘RANBiR KALEKA/
2018/ CORDILLERA HARMONY’ (on the reverse)
2018
Oil on linen canvas
36 x 48.25 in (91.5 x 122.5 cm)
$ 16,670 ‒ 25,000
Rs 12,00,000 ‒ 18,00,000
PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist
An Important Private Collection, New Delhi

89

83

MADHVI PAREKH (b.1942)

Untitled
Signed and dated in Devnagari (lower left)
2016
Acrylic on canvas
71.75 x 107.75 in (182.5 x 273.5 cm)
$ 27,780 ‒ 41,670
Rs 20,00,000 ‒ 30,00,000
PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist
An Important Private Collection, New Delhi

90

91

84 PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist
MANU PAREKH (b.1939) An Important Private Collection, New Delhi

Sunset at Benares

Signed in Devnagari and dated ‘14’ (lower left);
signed, dated and inscribed ‘Manu Parekh/ Sunset at
Benares/ 2014’ (on the reverse)
2014
Acrylic on canvas
48 x 48 in (121.9 x 121.9 cm)

$ 16,670 ‒ 20,835
Rs 12,00,000 ‒ 15,00,000

(Diptych)

92

85

PRABHAKAR BARWE (1936‒1995)

Calligraph
Inscribed and dated ‘’CALLIGRAPH’ BARWE 1995’ (lower left)
1995
Watercolour on paper
8.25 x 11.75 in (20.7 x 29.7 cm)
$ 2,780 ‒ 4,170
Rs 2,00,000 ‒ 3,00,000
PROVENANCE
Bodhana, Mumbai, 2015
Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi

93

Ram Kumar
Image courtesy of the artist

94

86

RAM KUMAR (1924‒2018)

Untitled

Signed and dated ‘Ram Kumar 2013’ (on the reverse)
2013
Acrylic on paper
22 x 30 in (55.9 x 76.2 cm)

$ 16,670 ‒ 20,835
Rs 12,00,000 ‒ 15,00,000

PROVENANCE
Saffronart, Mumbai, 15 February 2014, lot 19

95

87

ZARINA HASHMI (1937‒2020)

Silent Night

Signed and dated ‘Zarina 2017’ (lower right) and
inscribed ‘Silent Night’ (lower left)
2017
Collage with found paper on Indian handmade
paper mounted on somerset paper
Print size: 14.5 x 11.75 in (36.7 x 30.1 cm)
Sheet size: 19 x 15 in (48.5 x 38.1 cm)

$ 20,835 ‒ 27,780
Rs 15,00,000 ‒ 20,00,000

This is a unique work

PROVENANCE
Gallery Espace, New Delhi
Private Collection, Maharashtra

EXHIBITED
Weaving Darkness and Silence, New Delhi: Gallery
Espace, 2 February – 3 March 2018

PUBLISHED
Anushka Rajendran, Weaving Darkness and Silence:
Zarina Hashmi, AsiaArtPacific, 2018, online (illustrated)

Image courtesy of Gallery Espace

Z arina Hashmi, popularly known as Zarina, uses her art to engage with the politics of home, space,
displacement, and migration, and to deal with “the silence that surrounds both personal and
collective traumas of the past, particularly in relation to the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan.”
(Anushka Rajendran, “Weaving Darkness and Silence: Zarina Hashmi”, Art Asia Pacific, February 2018, online)

Born in Aligarh in pre‒Independence India, Zarina received an early introduction to Islamic design and
architecture, thanks to her father, and an educational background in mathematics – both of which combined
to form the foundation of her geometric style and her emphasis on structural purity. Though her work leans
towards minimalism, its starkness is balanced by texture and materiality.

The present lot is an expression of Zarina’s minimalist style and her relationship with paper. “Her intimate
treatment of the material takes on visceral qualities, bringing to mind the physicality of her aging body, and
the melding of body and emotional suffering.” (Rajendran, online) Created using found paper in 2017, Silent
Night is an evocative work that highlights the all‒pervading lonely nature of the night through the eleven
parallel and vertical lines set against a blank background. It highlights a sense of darkness and silence, with the
silence acting as an indicator of “a limit – of language and also of representation.” (Sadia Shirazi, “A Room of
One’s Own: Zarina,” Zarina: Weaving Darkness and Silence, February 2018, online)

This immersive engagement with darkness and silence, as observed in the present lot, is perhaps Zarina’s way
of ultimately achieving relief and catharsis.

96

“I have always been a spiritual person, and facing the
darkness, facing my mortality does not scare me. It is only
when we face the dark night of the soil that we can go
home into the blinding light.”  ZARINA HASHMI

97

Jangarh Singh Shyam
Wikimedia Commons

98

JANGARH SINGH SHYAM

(1962‒2001)

J angarh Singh Shyam is remembered today as a pioneer
of contemporary Gond art.  He is synonymous with
the artform to such an extent that Udayan Vajpeyi,
in his essay, “From Music to Painting,” proposes that Gond
art be called  Jangarh Kalam, or Jangarh style. (Sathyapal
ed., Native Art of India, Thrissur: Kerala Lalithakala Akademi,
2011, p. 33) 

Jangarh’s commercial artistic journey and rise to fame was
propelled by a chance encounter with the artist Jagdish
Swaminathan in the 1980s. The latter had been invited by
the Government of Madhya Pradesh to set up Roopankar,
an arts museum that was to be housed within the then up‒
and‒coming multi‒arts complex Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal.
He had been travelling through parts of the state, scouting
for indigenous artistic talent when he chanced upon the
mud wall paintings of Jangarh, who was only a teenager
at the time. Swaminathan took Jangarh on as his protégé,
brought him to Bhopal, and encouraged him to transfer his
art from walls to paper. Jangarh’s series of works on paper
and canvas remain on display at Bharat Bhavan till date.

Gond art is rooted in the daily life, beliefs, and folk tales of
the Gond community native to Central India, particularly
Madhya Pradesh.  Prior to Jangarh’s meeting with
Swaminathan, the artform was mostly practiced on the walls
of members of the community, created to mark festivals or
fulfil ritualistic purposes.  Characterised by the use of dotted
patterns and lines, Gond drawings are vividly colourful and
depict local flora and fauna, as well as various gods and
goddesses, folktales and myths  of the community. The
artform is, in many ways, an extension of the rich oral history
and storytelling traditions of the community, and reflects
its animistic beliefs and practices. Prior to the introduction
of commercial paint mediums, artists derived paints from
naturally occurring objects as varied as charcoal, coloured
soil, leaves, flowers, and even cow dung.

99

88 PROVENANCE
The Crites Collection, New Delhi
JANGARH SINGH SHYAM (1962‒2001)
PUBLISHED
Untitled (Birds) (Gond Art) Aurogeeta Das, Jangarh Singh Shyam: The Enchanted
Forest, New Delhi: Roli Books, 2017, p. 181 (illustrated)
Signed in Devnagari and dated ‘1996’ (lower right)
1996
Ink on paper pasted on mount board
11 x 14 in (27.9 x 35.5 cm)

$ 5,560 ‒ 6,945
Rs 4,00,000 ‒ 5,00,000

Jangarh’s journey forever altered the course of Gond art. As he achieved fame, Jangarh encouraged other artists in
his community to paint as well, and served as their bridge into the mainstream art world. His house doubled as a
studio, where he provided his students with paper, canvas, and paint, and encouraged them to find and practice
their unique expression within the Gond tradition. He passed away in 2001, while only in his early forties, leaving
behind a rich legacy that is carried on by the artists he trained and encouraged during his lifetime.

100