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

C hittaPRosad 21 June 1915 – 13 November 1978 A ‘Bagdi’ Family- Almost Naked and Starving Pencil, brush and ink on paper, 1944 S/d in English ‘Chittaprosad 25 May/44 Ghatal’ t.l. Inscribed in English ‘Women hid themselves in darkness as I passed through the villages in Midnapur’ l.l. and ‘A “Bagdi” family - almost naked and starving’ l.r. 11.4 x 15.3 in (28.8 x 38.9 cm) Provenance** Acquired by Osian’s Connoisseurs of Art from Delhi Art Gallery, who in turn acquired the work from Chittaprosad’s Family. ` 500,000 – 750,000 US$ 10,000 – 15,000 81 1780 1800 1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1910 1920 1925 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 2000 189 188 “Such a rendering provides greater mass to the forms, but instead of resulting in corporeality, the crisp edgy strokes enhance the frailty instead. The same treatment of ink- filled bodies created the moving picture of a Bagdi family turning their back to the artist, in sheer shame of nudity (Plate 15). The strokes of the brush do not so much attempt to create an equivalent of anatomical specificity or muscular structure, but render the forms as blocked-out mass, distinct from the linear rendering of the backdrop details of the hut, the net and the plants. It projects by contrast the human bodies into prominence despite the fact that the rest of the picture contains greater linear detailed depiction.” [Mallik, Sanjoy Kumar [Main Author]; Kishore Singh [Ed.] [2011]. Chittaprosad: 1915- 1978 A Retrospective. New Delhi: Delhi Art Gallery (2 Vols.); p.37] Creative India BENGAL | ‘Chittaprosad, the Calcutta Group, F.N. Souza & Artists of Transition 1940-50s’