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

59 PHILOSOPHICAL FRAMEWORK 18 VED NAYYAR (b.1933) Mankind 2190 Series S/d in English, l.r. & l.l. Silver paint, black & white chalk on paper, 1990 183 x 58 cm. (72.0 x 22.8”) Rs. 200,000 - 275,000 $ 4,255 - 5,850 “ Nayar’s drawings have a strong autobiographical streak even when he allies with universalist concerns… An elongation of the figure to achieve stylisation is not unknown to primitivist art and ancient Indian sculpture… Nayar’s intentions however, are more subversive: his figures are lent a virtuality dehumanising marionette quality. Robbed of flesh and volume they become virtually interchangeable with forms of nature, serving as convenient perches for birds, the immediate victims of ecological depradation. Yet they retain strong human concerns, as the figures engage the viewer in a direct, confrontational gaze.” (Gayatri Sinha, rpt. in Art Today ExC . 1996 ). “ Drawing, for me, is a complete expression and a vehicle to arrive at my sculpture. It is an assurance…I draw more by instinct rather than by the tenets of formal training to draw,…” (Ved Nayyar, rpt. in Gallery Espace’s Drawing ‘94 , p94). PAPR Lot 158 Ch.Lon/ 02.06.98 Mankind 2190 series Silver Paint, Black & White Chalk on Paper, 1990 209.5 x 77.5 cm ASP: £ 2,300/ Rs. 157,320 (£1 = Rs. 68.40)