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

86 OSIAN ’ s–CONNOISSEURS OF ART 56 Sadanand BAKRE [b .1920, Baroda, Gujarat] Sundial Original artist seal with inscrip- tion in Mori partly damaged Bronze, 1956-7 23.0 x 4.5 x 4.0 cm (9.1 x 1.8 x 1.6 in) Rs. 400,000 – 500,000 $ 8,650 – 10,800 £ 4,725 – 5,925 ‘Mr. Sada Bakre’s sculptures poised among thin struts and spokes and tapering geometric wings of metal. Mostly rather small, these light and airy constructions have the appeal of unusually imaginative toys.’– rpt. in The Times (London) July 1959. ‘Bakre is one of those very few sculptors in India today who can cater to both sections of the public, the lovers of classical and modern art… In the abstract field, Bakre does not dabble in unknown seas. He is not one of those, whose abstractionism is affected and arises out of confu- sion. Bakre’s sense of abstract art is well-harnessed from the sources and offers us perfect specimens of pure and original thought. Influences of greater artists may be there but only inside the figure and in his mind.’ – Vasoo, rpt. in Aesthetics Vol 4. No.10, Novem- ber–December 1950. Bakre’s Sundial was sculpted during a terrible fog which had descended upon London, and the whole country was praying for the sun to emerge and raise the fog. Select Masterpieces of Miniature Sculpture by Bakre, 1960s