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

THE MASTERPIECES & MUSEUM-QUALITY SERIES 33 8 Abanindranath TAGORE [1871-1951/ b . Calcutta, West Bengal] National Art Treasure Sita in Captivity in Lanka Signed in Bengali, t.r. Watercolour & wash on paper, c.1907 33.9 x 25.2 cm (13.3 x 9.9 in) Provenance In the family collection of A.K. Coomaraswamy until the mid 1960s thereafter, maybe through an introduction by William Rothenstein, the painting passed into the A.N. Jha (Former Lt. Governor of Delhi) family collection before coming into the possession of a fellow art patron & connoisseur from Allahabad. Condition Paint has flaked at various places, especially in the t.r. section when the mount on the painting was changed. Minor preservation work will be required. Rs. 800,000 – 900,000 Non-Exportable Item Lot 8 represents the most significant painting by the artist to come up for public auction until date. Refer to Abanindranath Tagore. Calcutta: ISOA (Golden Jubilee Number) 1961 for full page B/w illustration, p55. Refer to Tapati Guha-Thakurta’s The Making of A New ‘Indian’ Art: Artists, Aesthetics and Nationalism in Bengal 1850- 1920 . CUP 1992 for full page B/w illustration, p254. ‘Abanindranath’s paintings of this ‘wash phase’ are typically swathed in pale, hazy tones, and heavily laden with a mood of introspection and reverie. Elegant use of line and space combine with images that are usually wrapped in a romantic mystique of dreams and yearnings. We find examples like ‘Sita in captivity in Lanka’ which focuses on a pensive profile, a barred window and some faint swirling lines of waves, leaving the rest of the composition suggestively blank.’ – Tapati Guha-Thakurta, rpt. in op. cit. p253.