Osian's Auction Catalogue Forty Masterpieces | March 2003

Rs. 900,000 – 1,000,000 $ 18,800 – 20,900 £ 11,300 – 12,500 _ 17,300 – 19,000 Untitled S/d in Bengali, l.r. Oil on paper pasted on cloth, 1972 149.9 x 109.9 cm [59.0 x 43.3 in] Condition The painting has been preserved and restored in New Delhi, January 2003 Provenance Acquired from the Artist by New Delhi-based gallery, thereafter consigned to Osian’s 86 87 30 PROKASH KARMAKAR [b.1933/ Calcutta, West Bengal] “Prokash’s works, especially those based on the human figure, convey a sense of pain and horror. Sometimes they are segmented like jig-saw puzzles, at times emaciated – they evoke feelings of agony and turmoil. The artist is essentially rooted to a world of reality. In terms of a mental attitude at least, he reminds us of Oskar Kokoschka, who too refused to turn abstract... Prokash too ‘tries to liberate’ – in what he sees – a bird, a horse and more often in figures. His art is, for all purposes, a protest. To him things are not just to be accepted and circumstances are never final... He is uncompromising and never gives up. If the ‘investigation of reality’ is typical of the twentieth century, Prokash, no doubt, has attempted it in his own way and as such deserves to be discussed and watched.” (Ajit Kumar Dutta, reprinted in LKC 17, April 1974; p22).