Osian's Auction Catalogue ABC Series III | March 2007

ABC Series III 100 103 SOMNATH HORE (1921–2006) Flute Player Bronze 3.9 x 2.8 x 2.6 in (10.0 x 7.0 x 6.5 cm) INR 800,000 – 1,000,000 USD 18,050 – 22,550 ‘Most of Somnath Hore’s sculptures are small…The modelingof the face, thehunched back, the folds and axial shifts of the body, everything carries the imprint of the artist’s hands…The visual metamorphoses of the punched holes, the slit surfaces, the torn edges, the marks left by molten wax, and the rugged channels, into empty eyes and wordless mouths, into torn and scalded skin, into mangled bodies, exposed bones and misshappened limbs are also most convincing at this scale. Somnath Hore’s transformations are engaging but his virtuosity is never demonstrative…. his relation to technique is not that of a free-explorer, it is conditioned by his social consciousness stemming from the early experience of war and famine. Its unforgotten wounds are the leitmotif in his art.’ – R.Siva Kumar, rpt. in Somnath Hore:Bronzes , CIMA November 1995,ExC; p36.