Osian's Auction Catalogue The Masterpieces Series | March 2010

159 The Masterpieces SerieS 101 h iMMat S hah (b.1933) Head Terracotta, 1995-96 11.6 x 6.7 x 10.2 in (29.5 x 17.0 x 26.0 cm) INR 500,000 – 750,000 US$ 10,420 – 15,630 “The terracotta heads of Himmat Shah…are a unique art experience. Himmat, restlessly experimenting in perhaps the oldest medium of artistic expression, works like a power-packed dynamo, varying the texture, changing the banking temperature, varying the colour and the clay, turning the inert and the lifeless into human heads, breathing life and emotions into them.” – Art critic, rpt. in Indian Express, 3 February 1983. “..the terracotta heads seen together may appear stiff, remote and withdrawn, yet each is invested with a unique presence that holds rich surprises and unfolds layered realities that take reference from the lived space of Himmat Shah’s world.” – Nuzhat Kazmi, rpt. in Himmat Shah: Sculpture , Art Heritage, ExC, January 2000.