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

d.p. r oy C HoWdHury 15 June 1899 – 15 October 1975 Omar Khayyam Watercolour & wash on paper, Mid 1920s Signed in Bengali ‘Shri Debi Prosad’ c.l. 9.5 x 12.0 in (24.2 x 30.4 cm) Condition Minor paint loss t.r., minor dent l.l. Provenance From an important family collection, Kolkata ` 600,000 – 900,000 US$ 12,000 – 18,000 66 1780 1800 1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1910 1920 1925 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 2000 d.p. r oy C HoWdHury 15 June 1899 – 15 October 1975 the Hunter (two versions of this famous painting exist, one on board) Watercolour on paper, Early 1940s Signed in Bengali ‘Shri Debi Prosad’ l.l. 9.9 x 16.2 in (24.7 x 40.6 cm) Provenance From an important family collection, Kolkata ` 800,000 – 1,200,000 US$ 16,000 – 24,000 67 “…the Bengal school at its highest and purest, with Abanindranath, Gogonendranath and Nandalal, had soared to unattained idealistic heights in painting. Their superb culture had ‘x-rayed’ the soul of art and transcended the merely incidental skeleton of physical accuracy. Art ceased to be just imitative; it became a visualisation of the artist’s emotion, plumbing the appearance of things. Physical exactitude was adventitious, almost irrelevant. Nature was no longer the sine qua non: the artist revealed a deeper and more innate truth, far beyond its visible manifestations. His appeal was more fundamental and to an ageless future, unbothered by mechanical accuracy or verisimilitude. Thus the best of the Bengal idealists distilled the quintessence of artistic truth and achieved a sublime simplicity, so pitifully caricatured by their slavish emulators.” [Rao, P.R. Ramachandra [1943]. Choudhury & His Art. Bombay: New Book Company; p.3.] Illustrative references Shikari (The Hunter). Illustrated in Bharatbarsha, 1347 (1940). Farooqi, Anis [Director, NGMA] [1989]. Catalogue of Collections, Volume 1: National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi. New Delhi: National Gallery of Modern Art (Vol. 1); p.205, Acc. No.1962 [Angeler (sic), Watercolour on board. 95.6 x 57.8cm] Creative India BENGaL | D.P. Roy Chowdhury 153 152 Full image for Lot 67 on pp.154-155.