Osian's Auction Catalogue Select Masterpieces of Indian Modern and Contemporary Art | June 2009

31 9 Amitava Das (b.1947) The eyes that will not look….’ Oil and acrylic on canvas, 1999 61.6 x 55.4 in (156.7 x 140.7 cm) S/d in English ‘Amitava Das 99’ on verso INR 1,200,000 – 1,500,000 USD 25,000 – 31,250 Illustration Reference Amitava Das…The Outsider, Sakshi Gallery, ExC, Mumbai, February 2000 “I innovated another technique of drawing - drawing by elimination. I covered the printed surface with linear forms and shapes. Later on, I would eliminate them by applying the strokes of pen, and slowly it would get covered with the blackness of the ink. The images were very introvert at that time. The treatment of the space was suggestive of interiors (architecture). This process reminds me of the 17th century canvas painting by Rembrandt who worked, not on a white canvas but on a dark canvas. He would eliminate the dark areas with the light areas…I don’t see my drawings as a preparatory study in the conventional sense, but as complete works of art. I would like to term them works on paper, not mere drawing or water colour. Like you break silence by a musical note.” – Amitava Das, rpt. in Amitava: Works on Paper From 1972 to 1994, ExC, Sakshi Gallery.