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

THE MASTERPIECES & MUSEUM-QUALITY SERIES 65 36 Jaya GANGULY [ b .1958, Calcutta, West Bengal] Untitled Signed in Bengali t.r. & s/d on verso Oil on canvas, 1994 166.0 x 107.5 cm (65.4 x 42.3 in) Rs. 250,000 – 325,000 $ 5,400 – 7,000 £ 2,950 – 3,850 ‘Jaya Ganguly’s canvases are inhabited by figures which float in a twilight zone. The figure is very much there but has, more or less, an ambiguous presence without however, losing their legibility. They are infused with a kind of mystery which arouses our curiosity and provoke our senses. The mystery is deepened by the judicious use of somber but subtly luminous colours. Areas of mixed blacks, browns, ochres, blues, greens and violets are gently contrasted by equally mixed whites, yellows, oranges and reds.’ – Paritosh Sen, rpt. in Jaya Ganguly. Academy of Fine Arts 1991 ExC. ‘Jaya Ganguly excels in figurative expressions. Her works depict dream images which are highly mysterious and vibrant in colour. The figures are surreal, distorted and express a certain torment and inner angst.’ – rpt. in Art of Bengal Past and Present 1850- 2000 . Kolkata: CIMA 2000; p226. 37 Rekha RODWITTIYA [ b .1958, Bangalore Karnataka] When Tennessee Williams Came to have Dinner With Me Signed & titled on verso Oil on canvas, 1994 180.0 x 237.0 cm (70.9 x 93.3 in) Rs. 400,000 – 500,000 $ 8,650 – 10,800 £ 4,725 – 5,925 ‘The colour red dominates her canvases and is an important signifier of her work, indicating ‘sacrifice, passion, desire and protest’. Her female figures have the iconic quality of a Mater Dolorosa, and their gestures and surroundings link them through myth and memory to infinite histories. Rekha imbues ordinary actions with a ritualistic quality and by often displacing their context she renders them more potent or evacuates their meaning…. Her protagonists are neither confrontational not cowering. There is a profound sense of both strength and vulnerability, of directness and reticence which gives her works their particular appeal.’ – Tasneem Mehta, rpt. in Cymroza Art Gallery 1997-98 ExC; p46. Transforming Herself and Woman, 1980-2000s 1996 2002 1989 1986