Osian's Auction Catalogue The Masterpieces Series | March 2010

133 The Masterpieces SerieS 82 G aneSh h aloi (b.1936) The Crocodile Hunt Oil on Nepali paper pasted on masonite board, 1969 Signed in Bengali ‘Ganesh Haloi’ l.l. 34.3 x 33.0 in (87.0 x 83.8 cm) Provenance THE OSIAN’s COLLECTION. INR 1,600,000 – 2,400,000 US$ 33,330 – 50,000 Ganesh Haloi’s oeuvre displays a progression from recognizable landscapes to increasing abstraction that is nevertheless rooted in perceptual communion with nature: ‘The childhood nostalgia for the Brahmaputra basin which lingers in Ganesh’s creative vision reveals the wisdom which knows that childhood can always remain, whatever the day, and from this youthful spring come many strands of disciplined joy’ (Neville Tuli, The Flamed Mosaic: Indian Contemporary Painting , Mapin-Heart, Ahmedabad, 1993, p.276). Says the artist: “I am always going alone into the wilderness. The distance, the separation, gives the need to reunite. ..why do I paint? In this universe, there are all sorts of movements. Where there is movement, there is sound, vibration, and a visual appearance which makes us wonder. These are things which come when we are not preoccupied with material thoughts. When they used to live in the primitive age, life was very hard, but they were not preoccupied. If you are not preoccupied you will receive this vibration, and you will respond. Dancing, music, all started with this response. This vibration makes you become part of that movement” (Ganesh Haloi, in an interview with Neville Tuli, rpt. in The Flamed Mosaic: Indian Contemporary Painting , Mapin- Heart, Ahmedabad, 1993, p.301). Exhibited and illustrated The Underlying Spirit. Habitat Centre, New Delhi, 2004. Illustrated in catalogue published by Osian’s – Connoisseurs of Art, New Delhi, p.86; and Revisualising India. Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi, 2005. Illustrated in catalogue published by Osian’s – Connoisseurs of Art, p.64