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

79 MASTERPIECES & MUSEUM-QUALITY III “…Mondal always imbues his mythic reality with a timeless symbolism. His creatures are superhuman and subhuman at the same time. He paints in bold strokes and creates tableaux whose themes are as universal as they are primevally human. Mondal offers here an ambitious ‘Relation’ series. Most of these paintings have groups of humans either standing or seated, male or female, with a stylised cat crouched in a corner or under a seat. The hieroglyphic patterns on human bodies, the look of the cat as well as that of the human figures all hark back to Egyptian 31 RABIN MONDAL (b.1932 / Howrah, West Bengal) Relation II S/d in English t.l. Oil on canvas, 1987 131.5 x 113.4 cm (51.8 x 44.6 in) Rs. 250,000 – 325,000 US$ 5,550 – 7,200 GB£ 3,050 – 3,950 OSIANs S.I.R. ANALYSIS Present Estimate 108.21 Previous Average 103.39 [2002-3] Auction Average 289.84 Opinion Significantly underpriced. Like many of the Bengal & South India-based artists, Mondal fares poorly in comparison to the Mumbai-based artists of his generation and artistic calibre. frescoes.” (Dnyaneshwar Nadkarni, in ‘Throbbing Theatre of the Primitive’, rpt. in The Independent , 17 November 1989.) “Works of the 1980s articulate human situations that range from personal predicaments to social subterfuge, chicanery, lust. Technique has undergone enticing changes that demand close attention for their relevance to the study undertaken. Although the figures remind us of a certain class, the artist’s intent assumes universal dimensions. ‘Relations’ heighten the modalities of an inner drama which typifies no particular class of humanity. The animal in both takes on a symbolic connotation. In ( Relation II ), the gesture of the left hand of the female meant for the man behind her and unnoticeable to the man who is taking her into his arms brings into view a chilling social scene.” (Art critic, in ‘Metaphoric Subtlety with Contradictory Pulls’, rpt. in The Statesman , 9 October 1987, New Delhi.)