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

s anat k aR b. 1 March 1935 Memories Oil on canvas, 1958 Labelled on verso 32.4 x 24.5 in (82.3 x 62.2 cm) Provenance Acquired directly from the artist by Delhi-based gallery. ` 800,000 – 1,200,000 US$ 16,000 – 24,000 99 1780 1800 1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1910 1920 1925 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 2000 Illustrative Reference Anand, Ashish [Director] [2003]. Manifestations: Indian Art from the 20th century. New Delhi: [ExC.] Delhi Art Gallery; p.40 and plate opp. [Sanat Kar 1958 Series] “In the fifties many of the Indian painters rejected myths and legends as subject matter, as well as the academic realism… Instead, they preferred conjured up scenes projecting their societal concerns... The attenuated elongation of suffering humans reminisces El Greco, a favorite of the young of Calcutta in the 1950s, sans illusionistic representation. On the other hand, the flattening of the voluminous figures reduces Sanat’s figures to agglomerations of linear colour masses. Along with that, the configuration of the figures in the foreground, in the (same) plane of the mosque or mazaar wall at the back, is a clear attempt at Post- Cubist stylizations, albeit without a commitment to the philosophy of Cubism. The painting also exhibits a propensity towards combining the decorative with the tragic, which characterized much of Sanat Kar’s later work. Later, Sanat would, however, forsake the kind of open eclecticism of this painting, in favor of more integrationist absorption of chosen heritages.” [Pranab Ranjan Ray rpt. In Anand, Ashish [Director] [2003]. Manifestations: Indian Art from the 20th century. New Delhi: [ExC.] Delhi Art Gallery; p.40 and plate opp. For illustration of painting from the same series as Lot 99] 221 220 Creative India BENGAL | Somnath Hore & Santiniketan