Osian's Auction Catalogue The Osianama Series |February 2013

250 1989 “Barwe had an agenda that he followed through his work: the agenda of rendering possible the creation of an art that could validate its affiliations at the levels of being both authentic in its own history, and contemporaneous in the sense of transcending the commonly assumed opposition of tradition and modernity, of representation and abstraction. In fact, a work by Barwe at first glance seems to be a collection of carefully drawn, identifiable objects strewn about in a space the definition of which is never made clear. The viewer is made then, to embark upon a itinerary of her/his own, through this configuration of boundless spaces and scattered objects, entering into a process of recreating the meanings suggested within the work; the process that engenders a renewed questioning of conventionalized expression, leaving the participant enriched.” – Chaitanya Sambrani, quoted in Shraddhanjali -Prabhakar Barwe (1995). ‘Barwe delights in the exploitation of lines and linear forms; in the strength of basic design. The nature of a diagrammatic scheme in his paintings illuminates the constant interplay of symbols and colours of an urban environment with recurring primitivist strains that essentially characterizes the tenor of modern art.” – Badri Narayan, quoted in Lalit Kala Contemporary No. 12 & 13 (April- September 1971): 36. 134 Prabhakar Barwe 16 March 1936 – 6 December 1995 Canvas & Colours Oil on canvas, 1989 S/d in Devanagari ‘Prabhakar Barwe 1989’ on verso. Inscribed in English ‘CANVAS AND COLOURS/ 120 X 135 CMS/ PRABHAKAR BARWE’ on verso. Inscribed in English on a label ‘Birla Academy of Art/ Canvas and Colours/ 1989 P Barwe’ on verso on stretcher 47.3 x 53.1 in (120.2 x 135.0 cm) Provenance Private New Delhi-based Collection ` 1,500,000 – 3,000,000 US$ 27,270 – 54,540 GBP 18,750 – 37,500