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

47 PHILOSOPHICAL FRAMEWORK 5 GANESH PYNE (b.1937) The Bird S/d in Bengali, l.l. Tempera on paper pasted on board, 1966 55.0 x 69.2 cm. (21.7 x 27.2”) Rs. 1,250,000 - 1,500,000 $ 26,595 - 31,915 PAPR Lot 124 Ch.Lon/ 02.06.99 The Fall Tempera on paper-backed canvas, 1971 55 x 61.4 cm. ASP: £11,500/ Rs. 786,600 (£1 = Rs. 68.40) Lot 84 So.Lon/ 17.06.99 The Amphibian Tempera on canvas, early 1970s 49 x 54.5 cm. ASP: £ 18,400/ Rs.1,267,760 (£1 = Rs. 68.90) So.Lon/ 08.06.00 Lot 239 The Bird Tempera on canvas ASP: £ 18,900/Rs. 1,283,877 This painting represents one of the very first temperas executed by Ganesh Pyne. “With the temperas, his style matured and evolved in its own identity. The figuration became more angular… He began to texturise his paintings more obviously, intensifying the air of mystery. In the creation of archetypal or iconic forms, he began to draw from elements of folk painting. When asked about these changes, he said that the medium demanded it. According to Pyne, tempera is such a soft, flat medium that to give it tonal variation, depth and interesting contrasts, he had to change his style accordingly. He also began to take a long time to finish each tempera. Building up the layers with short, hatching strokes and waiting for the paint to dry before the next layer can be applied is a painstaking process. What Pyne never says but it is obvious in his work is that use of tempera, he has devised a style whereby he gives an enigmatic form to his melancholy interior world without screaming out loud about his personal sorrows and sense of loss”. (Ella Datta, in Ganesh Pyne His Life and Times 1998, p46).