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

74 OSIAN ’ s–CONNOISSEURS OF ART 44 Vinayak Pandurang KARMARKAR [1891-1966/ b . Sasavane, Raigad, Maharashtra] Bust of Vithalbhai Patel Bronze, c.1931 28.0 x 23.0 x 13.0 cm (11.0 x 9.1 x 5.1 in) Provenance Acquired by present owner from Sunanda Karmarkar, daughter- in-law of the artist. Rs. 225,000 – 300,000 $ 4,850 – 6,500 £ 2,675 – 3,550 ‘Karmarkar explored the human body and its gestural movements within the academic idiom but with greater rhythmic expression. The variations were drawn from posed life models or the actual scene.’ – Janak Jhankar Narzary, rpt. in LKC 41 September 1995; p8. This bust must be a study for his monumental statue of the Congress leader which stands mostly neglected at Chowpatty Beach in Mumbai besides R.K. Phadke’s statue of Lokmanya Tilak. ‘Karmarkar was a giant among the sculptors of his time. But it would be a mistake to call him merely “academic”. He exercised both freedom and imagination in dealing with his subject... (he) grew up from the ethnic, traditional art of making Ganapati idols. By becoming a great sculptor, he destroyed the barrier between the so- called craft of the soil and the classic art of his later years.’ – Dnyaneshwar Nadkarni, rpt. in Padmashri Vinayak Pandurang Karmarkar: A Master Sculptor. Mumbai: Nehru Centre 1997.