Osian's Auction Catalogue The Masterpieces Series | March 2010

144 90 a kBar P aDaMSee (b.1928) Nude Watercolour and pencil on paper (handmade), 1980 S/d in English ‘PADAMSEE 80’ l.r. 22.1 x 15.0 in (58.6 x 38.1 cm) INR 600,000 – 900,000 US$ 12,500 – 18,750 Illustrated reference Akbar Padamsee: Sounds in the Wilderness , Threshold Art Gallery, ExC, New Delhi, 2005, p.26. “Akbar Padamsee’s drawings probe the raw human body for its containment of the subtle. The method, intuitively but on par with distanced analysis, oscillates between and blends a realistic basis and its aesthetic transformation… Usually both harsh and tender, they reverberate of an empathetic acceptance. Aware of mundane flaws and awkwardness in the sitters, they might occasionally tilt the stress slightly towards a rough expressionistic mode, yet remaining attuned to others’ humanity understood now in universal rather than individual terms.” – Marta Jakimowicz, rpt. in Akbar Padamsee: Sounds in the Wilderness , Threshold Art Gallery, ExC, New Delhi, 2005, p.5. “...the nudes are distinctive because of their self-absorption. They do not offer themselves up for their femininity to be surveyed either by voyeur or lover... Despite their vulnerability, they are really not accessible.” – Eunice de Souza, rpt. in Akbar Padamsee , Art Heritage Monograph, 1980, p.8.