Osian's Auction Catalogue The Masterpieces Series | March 2010

121 The Masterpieces SerieS 71 S udhir p atwardhan (b.1949) Station Conte on paper (handmade), 1978 S/d in English ‘Sudhir 78’ l.l. 18.9 x 24.2 in (48.1 x 61.5 cm) INR 400,000 – 600,000 US$ 8,330 – 12,500 “He (Sudhir) is able to establish an equation of dignity with his proletarian characters, and a sense of solidarity thereby. This is reinforced by the physicality of the figures, their graspable quality. This physicality, distinct from robustness, stands also for a capacity to survive while the gaze and gestures indicate the gravity of the act of survival. The figures, then, reserved and self-contained, reject sentimental identification. But they invite complete sympathy. This is important. By avoiding sentiment, idealization and irony, Sudhir overcomes, in fact, the predictable political solution to the human figure in art.” – Geeta Kapur, rpt. in JAG, ExC, 1979.