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

Dharamanarayan Dasgupta 25 August 1939 – 24 October 1997 Tantric Mixed media on board, Late 1970s Signed in English ‘Dharmanarayan Dasgupta’ on verso Inscribed in English,‘CN 1368, D.N. DASGUPTA, Composition, M.M.’ on verso 23.8 x 23.8 in (60.5 x 60.5 cm) Provenance Private Collection, Mumbai ` 600,000 – 900,000 US$ 10,000 – 15,000 GBP 6000 – 9000 Lalu Prasad Shaw b. 20 April 1937 Woman with Ribbon Tempera on paper, 1985 S/d in Bengali ‘Lalu Prasad 85’ l.r. 21.3 x 15.6 in (54.0 x 39.5 cm) Provenance Private Family Collection, New Delhi Illustrative Reference for similar series Singh, Kishore (Editor). Manifestations 5: 20th Century Indian Art. New Delhi: Delhi Art Gallery 2011; pp.164 (col.) / BOOK.bkc ` 600,000 – 900,000 US$ 10,000 – 15,000 GBP 6000 – 9000 Full image on p. 158 “Lalu Prasad Shaw’s work Untitled work belongs to his oeuvre that at best showcases his return to representative art inspired by the tradition of Lucknow bird painting. During the 1980s, the artist moved back to his rural roots enchanted by the two-dimensional quality of folk and tribal arts like the pata, chalchitra and Kalighats, in his own distinct quest for Indian modernism. The painting is a simplistic yet evocative two-dimensional picture, a style that he developed imbibing elements of the folk, simplifying the extremely complex agenda of representing the surrounding context through the people he came in contact with. Using the gestural expression of the Kalighat patas, Lalu Prasad Shaw b. 20 April 1937 Woman with Ribbon Tempera on paper, 1985 S/d in Bengali ‘Lalu Prasad 85’ l.r. 21.3 x 15.6 in (54.0 x 39.5 cm) Provenance Private Family Collection, New Delhi Illustrative Reference for similar series Singh, Kishore (Editor). Manifestations 5: 20th Century Indian Art. New Delhi: Delhi Art Gallery 2011; pp.164 (col.) / BOOK.bkc ` 600,000 – 900,000 US$ 10,000 – 15,000 GBP 6000 – 9000 Full image on p. 159 in this work it becomes apparent how the simplicity of form held the context of social structure. Just like the Kalighat patas that inspired Shaw, his own work illustrates and celebrates the human essence of contemporary life in Calcutta. The work of art is a reframed image of maybe a familiar face that is fictionalised and placed theatrically on a deep, yet flat, background. In the same manner as the patas, the mere definition of the eye and the pupil conveys the intrinsic expression of self-consciousness of the character encompassing the doubt and the mood of the protagonist. The simplicity of the strong lines that demarcate the figure from the background, through the medium of tempera, enhances the very essential complexity of the girl, while the color palette defines the mood of the stage. Shaw sheds all unnecessary detail from his memory, keeping the essential, reducing it to the basic element of lines and the authentic earthy palette of colour to express his own world-view of nostalgia, culture and the contemporary. The face of the girl, taken from his surroundings, changes, in his interpretation through his work of art, to enhance the mood and colour of the prevalent culture of the time. The straight nose, the simple side profile defined by the stroke of a line and the details within expressed through subtle marks on the paper, express the technical excellence and the contemporary expression that he has lent to traditional, established norms.” – Singh, Kishore (Editor). Manifestations 5: 20th Century Indian Art. New Delhi: Delhi Art Gallery 2011; pp.165/ BOOK.bkc 71 72 73 157 Indian Antiquities, Modern & Contemporary Fine Arts