Osian's Auction Catalogue Masterpieces and Museum-Quality III | March 2004

78 OSIAN’S 30 BIJON CHOUDHURY (b.1931 / Calcutta, West Bengal) Musicians S/d in Bengali l.l. & inscribed on verso OSIANs S.I.R. ANALYSIS Present Estimate 89.24 Previous Average 79.27 [2002-3] Auction Average 289.84 Opinion Highly underpriced artist from any perspective. Even compared to his Calcutta contemporaries such as Rabin Mondal, Prokash Karmakar, Sanat Kar, Isha Mahammad, let alone his Mumbai-based contemporary artists, Bijon Chowdhury is clearly an artist yet to receive his financial recognition. “ Besides painting, I was attracted to music too because of family influences. In regular music sessions at home, we were exposed to Khayal, Tappa, Thumri and other kinds of classical music. I even studied music for a while… Later, music was to enter as a theme, directly or indirectly, in some of my pictorial compositions, and it still remains a strong influence in my life… My particular style has been commented upon in these terms: ‘...Despite the artist’s urban sensibility and experience, he has tried to retain a native touch and succeeded in blending the two to create his own vision and style.’”( Bijon Choudhury, in ‘The Native Touch’, rpt. in Bijon Choudhury: Paintings EXC. Art Heritage, February 1998.) “ His images comprise male and female characters gesturing as singers or playing musical instruments or embodying the impact of mood and meaning of the ragas. Much of the expressiveness resides in the rhythmic curves and opulent figures, emotive expressions, in the arrangement of forms and figures and in the solemn tonal resonance of blue, green, grey and red laid in small, spongy patches, one upon another, as if to ensure a gradual unfolding of the theme, as is done in music.” (Art Critic, rpt. in The Telegraph (Calcutta), 29 March 1989.) Oil on canvas, 1985 165.0 x 109.5 cm (65.0 x 43.1 in) A crease is visible in the lower section of the canvas. Rs. 250,000 – 325,000 US$ 5,550 – 7,200 GB£ 3,050 – 3,950