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

P Rodosh d asguPta 1912 – 21 July 1991 Gossip Bronze (Artist edition 1 of 2; regular edition of 5), 1944 9.8 x 8.5 x 7.3 in (25.0 x 21.5 x 18.6 cm) and 9.0 x 8.5 x 8.5 in (23.0 x 21.5 x 21.7 cm) Provenance Acquired from the Artist’s Family Collection by Kolkata based Dealer-Collector. ` 1,000,000 – 1,500,000 US$ 20,000 – 30,000 Five editions of this sculpture were produced apart from the two artist copies. 84 1780 1800 1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1910 1920 1925 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 2000 “Gossip 1944 - An early experiment in mass and volume. The theme has been chosen from an everyday scene in a middle class Bengali family - the after-lunch gossip. In this case the subject was chosen first, and its arrangement and formal treatment followed later. The composition is semicircular with the heads of the two figures composed at the top middle of the vertical axis which is the focal point of the sculpture...The technique adopted here is elemental. Broad cubical planes have been punctuated at key points with rounded forms to harmonise with the basic semicircular composition.” [Dasgupta, Prodosh [1955]. My Sculptures: Prodosh Dasgupta. Calcutta & New Delhi: Oxford Book & Stationery Co.; Plate 14]