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

A STUDY FOR THE CENTRAL PANEL OF THE FAMOUS ‘SANTINIKETAN TRIPTYCH’ (1985), FORMERLY FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE AMITABHA NIYOGI FAMILY - FORMER ADVISOR TO WEST BENGAL GOVERNOR & CHIEF SECRETARY, GOVT. OF WEST BENGAL Tyeb Mehta 26 July 1925 – 2 July 2009 Study for Santiniketan Triptych Gouache on paper, 1984 Signed in English ‘Tyeb’ l.l. Inscribed in English ‘This painting by Tyeb mehta is from my father, Late Amitabha Niyogi’s collection. Ranjan Niyogi 21.10.2014’ on board on verso 13.4 x 10.6 in (34.0 x 27.0 cm) Provenance Properties formerly from the Collection of the Amitabha Niyogi Family - Former Advisor to West Bengal Governor & Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal Illustrative Reference Tyeb Mehta: Ideas Images Exchanges [BOOK.bkc, 2005]. New Delhi:Vadehra Art Gallery 2005; pp.161 Gandhi, Ramchandra (Author). Svaraj :A journey with Tyeb Mehta’s ‘Shantiniketan Triptych’ New Delhi 2002 [Publisher:Vadehra Art Gallery]. ` 6,000,000 – 9,000,000 US$ 100,000 – 150,000 GBP 60,000 – 90,000 It is interesting to see the differences between the earlier watercolour Study of the Central Panel of the Santiniketan Triptych (Lot 30) and the actual final oil on canvas Central Panel. It is obviously difficult to sequence an artistic vision, its conceptual tangents and overridding philosophies which constantly change by minor degrees the nature of depth, alongwith their evolving compositions and forms, but obvious influences are evident in the comparison. For example, it is clear that the absence of the goat motif in the 1983-84 Study implies that the Santiniketan residency/ experience brought this motif into prominence and in the process led to a restructuring and privileging of certain artistic forms and hierarchies in the final oil triptych. Naturally the whole conceptual growth of such a historical significant painting cannot be independent to all the visual juxtapositioning of painterly forms, especially in the case of Tyeb. To extricate one from the other is a tenuous task, but having this watercolour study and others (which have existed for decades in at least four independent collections around India) for his two triptych’s brings agreat deal of new insight and clarity to his workings as an artist. Naturally, greater research and scholarship in the years to come will deepen one’s understanding of the artistic process. 30 detail of Tyeb Mehta’s Santiniketan Triptych for illustrative reference only Ranjan Niyogi with Tyeb Mehta’s Painting “The triptych seems to me to unfurl this root drama of self awareness in images suggestive of the raging battle of our times between world-dominating secular humanism (panel 1), and the earth-abandoning religious fanaticism (panel 3); and of the possibility of an overcoming of this potentially all-destructive ideological opposition in a radical, non-dualist, reconstitution of consciousness (panel 2) which would see Self not as a thing apart from other things, but as our own most intimate reality self-imaged in all things and in nothingness too, within the framework of pervasive self-awareness.” – Ramachandra Gandhi rpt. in [BOOK.bkc/ BOOK.ess, 2005]. Gandhi, Ramachandra (Text by). Svaraj.“Tyeb Mehta: Ideas Images Exchanges”. New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery 2005; pp.143 80