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

Vivan Sundaram b. 28 May 1943 Two boys sitting on the outer wall (Kalidas and Pandu) Oil on canvas, 1984-85 S/d in English ‘Vivan Sundaram 1984-85’ on verso 78.5 x 42.7 in (199.5 x 108.5 cm) Condition Flaking of paint at various places on the canvas Provenance The Osian’s Collection; formerly Private Collector, New Delhi Illustrative Reference Kapoor, Kamala (Text). The Art of Vivan Sundaram. New Delhi: Lustre Press & Roli Books [Pocket Art Series] 2002. Full Colour Illustration np. Full Colour Illustration rpt. in Vivan Sundaram: Shridharani Gallery (Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi) & Jehangir Art Gallery (Mumbai) Solo ExC. December 1985 - January 1986 ` 4,500,000 – 6,750,000 US$ 75,000 – 112,500 GBP 45,000 – 67,500 ‘Has Vivan begun to share confidences with history? The two boys sitting on the outer wall are one. The parapet does not divide them from an as yet unknown world. The yellows do not speak, insanely of premature extinction nor are violets the charming cadences of a lost and lying love. There is no betrayal in the air, only the cruel joy of whirling oppositions. He has the answer who listens to the discourse. The golden back and the other’s triangle of bicycle seat are both points of rest, potential motion. We are poised in an equilibrium that we have found and not sought. What we see as our genius, in that lies our fallibility. Nature is amoral, unsuited in its transience to give final shape to our pathos. It will not do to bear the joys and sorrows that are Nature’s, though we must learn to do that before we can strike at tragedy…’ – Kumar Shahani rpt. in Vivan Sundaram Sridharini Gallery/ Jehangir Art Gallery 1985-86 ExC. “The Numen Roland Barthes speaks of his predilection for Baudelaire’s phrase, ‘The emphatic truth of gesture in the great circumstances of life’. Barthes goes on to say that, ‘He (Baudelaire) called this excess of pose the numen (which is the silent gesture of the gods pronouncing on human fate). The numen is hysteria frozen, eternalized, trapped, since it is at last held motionless, pinioned by a long stare. Whence my interest in poses (provided they are framed)...’” Reprinted in the 1985-86 Solo ExC beside the illustration of “Two boys sitting on the outer wall (Kalidas and Pandu)” ONE OF THE FINEST AND MOST ICONIC OIL ON CANVAS PAINTINGS BY VIVAN SUNDARAM WHO STOPPED PAINTING IN 1989 SO AS TO FOCUS HIS CREATIVITY ON THE FRAMEWORK WHICH EMBRACES INSTALLATIONS AND MORE CONCEPTUAL AND PERFORMANCE DRIVEN ARTWORKS 70 detail