Osian's Auction Catalogue The Masterpieces Series | March 2010

130 80 a ltaf (1943 – 2005) Self-Portrait Oil on masonite board, 1968 S/d in English ‘ALTAF 68’ on verso 23.9 x 14.9 in (60.8 x 37.8 cm) INR 400,000 – 600,000 US$ 8,330 – 12,500 81 a ltaf (1943 – 2005) Death of Virgin (After Caravaggio) Oil on board (masonite), 1968-9 15.7 x 12.1 in (40.0 x 30.7 cm) INR 400,000 – 600,000 US$ 8,330 – 12,500 “For Altaf his works act as modes through which he enters other people’s realities, which allows his fantasies to surface, subverting their reality to his own fantasy, his own aesthetic world. It is this process which allows him to move out of the confines of his studio, to view their expressions, their relations, their connections, their realities and differences. And on a wider canvas, more generalized, exploring/ relating to different aspects of human conditions, of loneliness, of death, relationships, sexuality – all part of life’s experiences... His works stress on the social – political encroachments. No moral judgements, they seem entrapped within a structure. A structure one gets used to, and starts to feel comfortable with and identifies with.” – Sasha Altaf, in ‘Readings Within Frame’, rpt. in Portraits and Faces, Faces and Portraits: Altaf, Sakshi Gallery, ExC, 1999.” Exhibited and illustrated Revisualising India. Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi, 2005. Illustrated in catalogue published by Osian’s – Connoisseurs of Art, p.48