Osian's Auction Catalogue ABC Series III | March 2007

ABC Series III 11 1 GAGANENDRANATH TAGORE (1867–1938) National Art Treasure Untitled Initialled in English ‘G.T.’ l.r. Watercolour and wash on paper, early 1920s 10.9 x 7.9 in (27.7 x 20.0 cm) Condition Minor paint loss l.l. INR 1,600,000 – 2,000,000 Non Exportable Item 2 A.H. MULLER (1878–1952) Tiger with Prey S/d in English ‘A.H. Muller 1927’ l.r. Oil on canvas, 1927 23.4 x 34.8 in (59.5 x 88.5 cm) Condition Restored by Kayan Pundole, Mumbai in January 2007. INR 1,200,000 – 1,500,000 USD 27,100 – 33,850 3 BABURAO PAINTER (1890–1954) Mahabharat Court Scene Oil on canvas, c.1930 24.1 x 30.1 in (61.3 x 76.5 cm) Condition Crackling on surface. Flaking on signature. INR 1,200,000 – 1,500,000 USD 27,100 – 33,850 ‘Gaganendra was a virtuoso in his many-sidedness. He was also a non-conformist… (he) kept outside the pale of the parochial orthodoxy of Modern Indian Art. He remained a free painter all through, free from fetish of all kinds – oriental or occidental… His artistic motivation was a curious amalgam of deliberate intellection penetrated and surcharged by a romanticism of the emotional-impulsive type. Nirad C. Chaudhuri has, therefore, characterized Gaganendra’s inspiration as psychological rather than artistic. His preoccupation was more with the emotional and ideological signicance of things than with the material aspects of form and structure.’ Kshitis Roy, rpt. in Gaganendranath Tagore . LKA 1964. ‘The Maharaja of Bikaner was fond of hunting. On many an occasion, he took Muller with him for sketching – Muller on one elephant, a photographer on the other and others to help the Maharaja in hunting, forming a cavalcade or a hunting party. On return from hunting, Muller used to draw sketches in the studio of different scenes in hunting and also painted pictures from the photographs taken at the time of actual hunting. The Maharaja was extremely pleased with the paintings of Muller.’ – S.B. Shirgaonkar rpt. in Artist A.H. Muller And His Art 1975 ExC. ‘Poverty nally drove Muller to take employment under the Maharaja of Bikaner in 1922. His assignment was to record hunting trips of the ruler. There was no question of the prince not admiring his talents, but the duties proved onerous. Muller soon gave them up.’ – Partha Mitter rpt. in Art and Nationalism in Colonial India 1850-1922: Occidental Orientations ,1994 pp. 92-4. (Image overleaf) ‘Baburao Painter of Kolhapur was a self-made artist endowed with great genius. Like Leonardo da Vinci he was multi-faceted and showed an aptitude for painting, sculpture, lm-production, photography and mechanical engineering. He evolved his own style of portraiture observing European paintings in the collections of the museums in Aundh, Bombay and Baroda.He preferred the romantic approach of the Pre-Raphaelite painters of nineteenth century England.’ – Prof. Baburao Sadwelkar rpt. in Story Of A Hundred Years: The Bombay Art Society 1888-1988. (Image overleaf)