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

1780 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2011 25 a. the History of aryan rule in India from the Earliest times to the Death of akbar Published by George G. Harrap & Company Ltd., London 1918 Offset print, Hardbound, 583 pages and 33 plates 22.1 x 15.5 x 5.6 cm b. the Ideals of Indian art Published by John Murray, London, 1920 Offset print, Hardbound, 208 pages and 32 B/w plates 25.8 x 18.8 x 2.9 cm One plate is detached c. a Handbook of Indian art Offset print, Hardbound, 248 pages and 71 B/w plates 23.0 x 15.5 x 4.5 cm Minor brown stains in few pages d.Indian Sculpture Eleven plates representing works of Indian sculpture chiefly in English collections. Letterpress by E. B. Havell. Probsthain & Co. Oriental Publishers, London Offset print, All B/w plates, Hardbound 28.0 x 21.8 x 1.0 cm Provenance Private Collector, New Delhi. ` 20,000 – 30,000 US$ 400 – 600 (Lot of 4) e. B. H avell 16 September 1861 – 31 December 1934 Creative India BENGaL | Abanindranath Tagore 53 52 a b c Olinto Ghilardi “Not much is known about Ghilardi except the fact that he was appointed as the Vice-Principal of the art school in 1886. It is significant to note that an Italian along with a Belgian artist as Principal, was running the art school of the British Government in Calcutta…Ghilardi, it is well know, had taught Abanindranath in private. He also officiated as Principal for a brief period when Schaumberg died and had used this brief spell to introduce a new subject of Indian Fresco Painting in the school’s curricula and had even announced six awards to attract students for this newly introduced course to be paid out of his own pocket. This surely proves Ghilardi’s love for Indian Art, and this he took to even more serious heights by the role he played in a local body of artists named ‘Indian Association for the Promotion of Fine Arts’. This organization had sent several young students to study art in Italy, instead of England, andGhilardi’s influence in such a decision-making process is more than obvious. Since Ghilardhi had taught Abanindranath personally, and knew about the latter’s Krishnalila series, it must have been him who drew Havell’s attention to Abanindranath’s early attempt of moving away from Academism. Abanindranath himself had written that Havell came to see his work on being informed by someonew about his new approach of re-discovering the beauty of Mughal miniatures and that ‘someone’ might easily be Olinto Ghilardi.” [Ratan Parimoo & Nalini Bhagwat, rpt. In Parimoo, Ratan & Sandip Sarkar [Eds.] [2009]. Historical Development of Contemporary Indian Art. New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi; pp.105-6]