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

93 THE MASTERPIECES & MUSEUM-QUALITY SERIES 61 S. NANDAGOPAL [b .1946, Bangalore, Karnataka] Memories of a Hero Stone Welded copper and brass, 1979 43.1 x 25.4 x 10.1 cm (17.0 x 10.0 x 4.0 in) Rs. 150,000 – 225,000 $ 3,250 – 4,850 £ 1,775 – 2,675 ‘Nandagopal has developed his own curious notation, a double- headed bird, or a horse and rider, a grid pattern of thin tubular lines that stands out in relief, circular wheel shapes gouged into the skin of the composition, a private tic-tac-toe of symbols, fish, forms and sometimes a winged, beaked figure, like a tribal deity that presides over the action. In fact, except for the sophistication with which he finishes his works, that are silvered, or coppered to a high finish, the imagery is not unlike that of a tribal artist. Nand- agopal’s sculpted world has a self- confidence and a self-awareness that gives it a completeness that makes it stand apart.’– Geeta Doctor, rpt. in Express Magazine 14 May 1989. ‘Nandagopal, who started as a painter,...took to sculpture, which Janakiram had made to appear as fresh and virgin. His work in sheet metal for a start was seized of the exuberance and freedom of the stark figures of folk fancy and ritual. But as the thrill of graphic worksmanship in the medium developed, he broke up the flat surface that Janakiram had established, and abstracted it further into free patterns of rich, tactile detail... The thrust is strictly along the line of connec- tions which Paniker had deeply sensitised, and it moved matters another step closer to the classical Indian achievement with surface and ornamentation.’ – Josef James, rpt. in op. cit ., p.79.