Osian's Auction Catalogue Forty Masterpieces | March 2003

99 “The disembodied, disemboweled apparitions hurl themselves at you. Conventional expressions such as ‘liking’ and ‘disliking’ lose their context. You cannot escape from the horrifying, compelling, claustrophobic mood Rabin Mondal creates. Soon, you get used to it. Soon, you are shocked at the transmigration of your sensibility; you actually learn to feel comfortable in that milieu, and begin to interpret the world according to its light…Rabin has come to peace with himself. His images are now quintessentially his own. They suggest violence and strife. They contort the grammar and the perspective. On occasion, they drag you into the sullenness of a pre-historic cave. On other occasions, they almost tell you a poignant contemporary story; it is perhaps a story of burdensome social tragedy.” (Ashok Mitra, reprinted in Rabin Mondal: Drawings 1970-1988. Calcutta: Dialogue 1988.) Man Entrapped Series a. previous page S/d in English, l.r. Oil on canvas, 1982 126.0 x 97.7 cm [49.6 x 38.5 in] b. S/d in English, l.l. Oil on canvas, 1982 126.0 x 97.7 cm [49.6 x 38.5 in] Provenance Private Gallery Collection, New Delhi Rs. 500,000 – 600,000 $ 10,400 – 12,500 £ 6,300 – 7,500 _ 9,600 – 11,500 [Set of 2] 98 35 RABIN MONDAL [b.1932/ Howrah, Calcutta, West Bengal] Os.Mum/ 05.12.2002 Lot 52 Crucifixion Oil on canvas, 1991 152.4 x 228.6 cm ASP: Rs. 550,000