Osian's Auction Catalogue Creative India Series 1 Bengal | December 2011

d.p. r oy C HoWdHury 15 June 1899 – 15 October 1975 Dancing Woman Watercolour & wash on cardboard, Early 1920s Signed in Bengali ‘Shri Debi Prosad’ l.r. Inscribed in English on verso (illegible) 10.6 x 7.6 in (26.7 x 19.1 cm) Provenance Private collection, Kolkata ` 600,000 – 900,000 US$ 12,000 – 18,000 64 1780 1800 1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1910 1920 1925 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 2000 Creative India BENGaL | D.P. Roy Chowdhury 149 148 “There is none so very much alive among Indian artists today as Devi Prasad Roy Choudhury. Among the first inheritors of Dr. Abanindranath Tagore’s noble art-heritage, he has outdistanced his compeers. The early resplendent glow of modern Bengal art is all but spent out. Abanindranath, at the twilight of life, stands on the summit of a matchless art endeavour - almost canonized...The deep spiritual art of the master was ritualized. Abanindranath paid the penalty of genius; he was parodied. The Bengal art renaissance, like the Brahmo Samaj, was cathartic in origin and purpose, very welcome and very necessary. But it soon achieved its purpose. It swept away the vulgar banalities of the Ravi Varma tradition; it resuscitated Indian art. But like all reforms, it suffered from over- emphasis and became stereotyped in the process.” [Rao, P.R. Ramachandra [1943]. Choudhury & His Art. Bombay: New Book Company; p.1] “Choudhury’s women may be drunk with love; they know another intoxication - of music - because music is the food of love. The Rajput maid in Choudhury’s “Surer Nesha” (Lure of Music) is deeply drunk with melody, listening, and yet not listening…Choudhury’s is a strong man’s conception of woman - frail, delicate, pensive, yielding and fragrant - because she is his psychological converse. His men are, like himself, studies in aggressive manhood - lone, gaunt, elemental and rugged.” [Rao, P.R. Ramachandra [1943]. Choudhury & His Art. Bombay: New Book Company; p.8]