Osian's Auction Catalogue Indian Antiquities and Modern and Contemporary Fine Arts | June 2015

L. Munuswamy b. 1 August 1927 Animals in Composition Oil on canvas, 1962 S/d in English ‘munuswamy 62’ l.r. Inscribed in English ‘L MUNUSWAMY - MADRAS 10’ on verso 49.6 x 48.0 in (126.0 x 122.0 cm) Provenance The Osian’s Collection; formerly Artist’s Family Collection Illustrative Reference Sircar,Anjali rpt. in L. Munuswamy. New Delhi: Lalit Kala Academy [LKA] 1985; pl. 19 (col.)/ BOOK.bkc Karode, Roobina. (Editor). The Drifting Horizon: L. Munuswamy. New Delhi: Delhi Art Gallery 2007; pp.17 (col.)/ BOOK.bkc Delhi Art Gallery (Publisher). The Drifting Horizon: L. Munuswamy. New Delhi 2007. [Contributors - Roobina Karode & Geeta Doctor] Full Colour Illustration p.73. ` 3,000,000 – 4,500,000 US$ 50,000 – 75,000 GBP 30,000 – 45,000 “In the 60s I painted a number of works which had birds and animals as their motifs. These forms lent themselves to a great extent to the liberty of an artist, to distort, dismember, interlock in a number of ways that satisfied the urge to create… The human form when it is distorted beyond certain limits, becomes crude and vulgarized whereas animal forms lend themselves to innumerable forms that are agreeable and lovable.” – L. Munuswamy, as quoted in The Drifting HorizonL: L. Munuswamy, DAG, 2007, p20–21. L. Munuswamy [Painter; Teacher; Principal, Government College of Arts and Crafts, Madras (late 1970s and early 80s)]. His predecessors S. Dhanapal, D. P. Roy Chowdhury and K. C. S. Panicker helped in defining his latent artistic talents during his student days. “Animals (1961), the most dramatic of Munuswamy’s compositions from this period, points to his growing confidence in his abilities. It could be called Munuswamy’s homage to Cubism, for he has broken up the image in neatly placed areas of colour that jostle with rhythm and energy conveying the idea perhaps of one animal about to mount the other, but this is not entirely clear. It may or may not be a bull. The two animals could just as well be packhorses bumping into each other on a trek across the mountainside. It’s a dramatic composition, the whites and orange-reds standing out against the green of the hillside, the entire piece held together by black brush strokes that reign the image, creating a magnificent montage of shapes and colour.” – Geeta Doctor quoted and reprinted in [BKC, 2007]. Karode, Roobina (Editor). The Drifting Horizon: L. Munuswamy. New Delhi: Delhi Art Gallery 2007; pp.17 ARTIST OF FOCUS L. MUNUSWAMY For Illustrative Reference Only 48 114