Osian's Auction Catalogue The Masterpieces and Museum Quality Series | October 2004

127 THE MASTERPIECES & MUSEUM-QUALITY SERIES 86 J. Sultan ALI [ 1920-1990/ b . Bombay, Ma- harashtra] Adivasi Bhumi Mata S/d in English l.r. Oil on canvas, 1989 83.5 x 120.8 cm (32.9 x 47.6 in) Rs. 500,000 – 600,000 $ 10,800 – 12,950 £ 5,925 – 7,100 ‘Creature and forces of nature assume anthomorphic form, symbols of powers, both earthly and magical…The stark, taut, graphic power of tribal art, a universe oscillating from the lyri- cal and ecstatic to the grotesque and brutally destructive; the potent physical reality, and at the same time the elusive mystery of the invisible, intangible forces at work beneath the surface. The dual world of matter and spirit, the apparent and the hidden; the seething, pulsating fullness of life and at the same time the sense of the illusoriness of human action. Deeds crackle into vacant gesture; scorpions, vestiges of human feeling, raise their poison tails; anger and pride congeal into bull-like shapes, mantras, chants, incantations, invoca- tions, all strive to exorcize the evil out of life; scripted forms, dying echos of ancient wisdom, stutter into a mere formal device – the entire jungle world, its reality and its myriad myths had been poured into the crucible of Sultan Ali’s imagination to re-emerge as forms, harsh and brutal in their impact.’ Ebrahim Alkazi, rpt. in Cholamandal: An Artist’s Village. OUP 2004; p346.