Osian's Auction Catalogue India The Passionate Detachment | February 2001

THE PASSIONATE DETACHMENT 162 140 LAXMAN PAI (b.1926) Three Goan Women S/d in English, l.r. Tempera on card, 1951 26.0 x 30.5 cm. (10.2 x 12.0”) 141 MOHAN SAMANT (b.1926) Blue Mirror S/d in Hindi, t.r. Oil on paper, early 1950s 44.5 x 36.6 cm. (17.5 x 14.4”) Rs. 175,000 – 250,000 $ 3,725 – 5,320 “ In 1951 Pai left for Paris… However, he remained an expatriate with unabated nostalgia for the verdant images of his own country, Goa, its landscapes and people. The influence of the ideologies of the modern West seems to have been marginal, a certain post-expressionistic tendency is seen in some of his later work. Perhaps the design element became much more obtrusive with an unusually strong structural emphasis but the stylised severity of the line, flatness of colours and keen sense of decoration continued. There is a certain geometrical, intellectual trait which his style acquired in Europe.” (S.A. Krishnan 1971, rpt. in LKC #34 1993 , pp68-69). Refer to LKA Monograph 1971 , illustrations #4 & #10 for works of the same style. Rs. 75,000 – 125,000 $ 1,595 – 2,660