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

31 are seen as they appear, so living this frighteningly alone journey without compromise. Such stubbornness as evident in the act of searching, can also find its resolution in the act of non-activity. To sustain this passionate-detachment is indeed the triumph of pursuing a truthfulness to knowing oneself, beyond the intoxication of creativity’s delusion that art is an end in itself. Only the truly honest mind can absorb this spectre of non-activity while energy is brimful and each day tempts one into achievements and a mythical search for meaningful activity. Yet the myth needs to be sustained, especially if its deluded reality is to be known. V.S.Gaitonde (Lot 4), more than most artists, has probably recognized this inevitability. Close to this spiritually proud stubbornness (pride having absorbed the humility which detachment provides) follows the intellectual purity which dissolves emotion and clutter so as to stay true to an aesthetic delight. This stark delight fills each moment, and motivates each subsequent encounter with one’s environment. Akbar Padamsee’s art reflects this intellectual will, which also recognizes the healing force of nature so as to temper the coldness such an aloof temperament demands. Many artists recognize this balm like sensation for the land, seeking an instinctive and sensuous companionship in its mystery, as evident in the works of Ramkinkar Baij (Lot 45,114 & 119), Sailoz Mookherjea (Lots 23, 120, 121 & 122) & Gopal Ghose (Lot 25, 123 & 124), or more gently and studied as with Ganesh Haloi (Lot 33), S. H. Raza (Lot 137, 138 & 160) and Ramkumar (Lot 142c & 161). The gentleness in the latter artists evolves due to the pain which their creativity tries to discipline and absorb, and so transforming a raw energy into a reflective mood of assimilating in silence, dissolving the self amid the vastness of nature and its continual forces of regeneration. A different stubbornness comes with a madness slightly beyond control, as when inflicted by a necessity, but tempered by an imagination which knows no bounds, and yet is confined to a little corner, because that is the burden of the madness. K. Ramanujam (Lot 7) ideally reflects this creative force whose mission is simply to keep sustained a blind absorption of the moment, through magical deceits and saddened dreams unwilling to collapse. This pain can lead to a refined detachment, as easily as to an obsessed excess, and the tense line manifests this energy with polarity-like differences, as with say, Nasreen Mohammedi and the early work (mid 1960s to late 1970s) of Laxma Goud. In Nasreen’s work the line numbs energy so as to simplify the clutter, to cut through the pain, while in Laxma Goud’s work, the forceful erotic energy is convinced that the complexities of the mind can be replicated by the line. Fusing the male, female, beastly, and the natural seems an inevitable and simple mission. The line simply oozes with a confidence that it reflects this continuum, and grasps the rhythm by which energy dances upon each sensual moment, whatever the circumstance. (Refer to Lot 49, 142d & 200). The oozing of confidence, the clear recognition of the superiority of the creative mind, is reflected in the frenetic masterly line of F.N.Souza (Lot 3, 134 & 142b). It is a genius which once held the evolutionary force inherent in the creative moment, becoming convinced that it would last forever, always renewing itself, more possessed. That delusion, can become as real in inspiring a genuine stubbornness simply reveals the difficulty of grasping creative evolution, and to know where stagnancy ends and self-belief continues towards self-criticism. When stubbornness is hammered by forces so intimidating and seductive, then a transformation from stubbornness to the will inherent in itself, motivates the nature of the creative journey. The tussle now seems more evenly balanced, as the pain of relating to one’s environment infiltrates the mind, so escape seems limited, though each moment cannot help but believe in the imaginative force of idealism. The pain takes relevance in a social context because there is an attachment to the material world, a sense of belonging and identity, which otherwise a stubborn introspection would have denied, along with the social responsibilities linked to the realization. The surrealistic brilliance of the Bengal atmosphere and struggles, seemingly match the rhythms of a creative mind, and so one allows a seduction to be instigated believing that stubbornness is dominating the day. Gaganendranath Tagore’s (Lot 21, 22, 101 & 102) aesthetic integrity had during certain moments harnessed the awareness of pain with such delicacy that the tensions of a violent and corrupt world seem totally dissolved. Yet he was remarkably in tune with the sour material circumstances, as a romantic social commentator with the breeze of spirituality running through the awareness and its imminent detachment. However, sooner or later, the sheer tension of the tussle between an awareness of pain and its balance becomes the only motivating force, where moments of freedom and helplessness are rarely separable. D.P.Roy Chowdhury (Lot 12, 91 & 92), Zainul Abedin (Lot 10) & Chittaprosad’s (Lot 11, 112, 143, 144 & 145) work best typify this relationship, especially their Bengal Famine related works. Artists of later generations such as Somnath Hore (Lot 16 & 113), Tyeb Mehta, Nikhil Biswas (Lot 13, 14, 148 & 149), Bikash Bhattacharjee (Lot 17 & 151), Pilloo Pochkhanawala (Lot 15) and the early work of A.Ramachadran (Lot 29 & 115) & Jogen Chowdhury clearly reveal the artistic genius whose inner will is convinced of absorbing all which surrounds, and due to heightened awareness delves deeper into that material logic of violence and injustice. With this understanding, they are forced to realize that to simply leave this initiated battlefield is not possible. The emotional excess of yesteryear has extracted its price, and the mind cannot extricate itself until the early pain has been completely harnessed that detachment and its playful wisdom seem possible. The discipline necessary to sustain the artistic idiom and maintain the necessary self-criticism, while keeping fresh the emotional