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

R abindRanath t agoRe 6 July 1861 – 7 August 1941 Untitled Watercolour on paper, 1939 S/d in Bengali ‘Rabindra 1/1/39’ l.l. 10.5 x 8.4 in (26.7 x 21.2 cm) Provenance From the Family Collection of Chittaranjan Ghosh. He is a retired school teacher from Santiniketan. His grand-father, a zamindar of Bengal was a friend of Rabindranath Tagore. ` 1,600,000 – 2,400,000 US$ 32,00 – 48,000 National Art Treasure Non-Exportable Item 70 1780 1800 1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1910 1920 1925 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 2000 “I think Rabindranath is his own best critic. It was the unpredicatability in art that interested him. It was the certain imagery burdening his mind which he wanted to bring out, the significance of which was its own clarity and inevitability. Without denying the fact they may be having psychological significances he insisted not to read meanings in them, therefore refusing to give them titles. However, he does come closer to Expressionism in his pessimism, in his introvertedness and in his emphasising the feeling- import of the image rather than its physical facts...Had the works of Gaganendranath and Rabindranath been more known in their time it would have further accelerated the art situation. Even now the more their work becomes familiar and their contemporary significance realized the more challenging will appear the task of the present generation. Their achievement comes as a revelation and establishes the fact not only that modern art arrived with them but that it has already taken deep roots - a realization not dawned on many of our critics.” [Parimoo, Ratan [1973]. The Paintings of the Three Tagores: Abanindranath, Gaganendranath & Rabindranath - Chronology and Comparative Study. Baroda: Maharaja Sayajirao, University of Baroda; pp.134-5.] Creative India BENGAL | Rabindranath Tagore & Santiniketan 165 164