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

166 OSIAN ’ s–CONNOISSEURS OF ART 121 Vivan SUNDARAM [b . 1943, Simla, Himachal Pradesh] Hotel Interior: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeosie S/d & titled in English on verso Oil on canvas, November 1974 137.0 x 115.5 cm (53.9 x 45.5 in) ‘In my series, The Discreet Charm of The Bourgeoise, I made palpable objects like the chair or lace tablecloth, or a completely realistic illusion of a broken glass pane. By creating a background that was very obviously surface texture, an effort was made to thus destroy the illusion of the object. This makes for rhythm… the stillness of the object and the surging, seething movements of the surface texture… the background overpowers the foreground…’ Vivan Sundaram, rpt. in The Sunday Observer 3 March 1985. Rs. 600,000 – 700,000 $ 12,950 – 15,100 £ 7,100 – 8,275