Osian's Auction Catalogue Indian Antiquities Modern Contemporary Fine Arts and Books | April 2017

An Important painting depicting Ladakh and the Indus Valley 48 Serbjeet Singh 1926-2009 Bardhan Gompa - Zanskar Oil on board, 1959 S/d in English ‘Serbjeet 1959’ l.l. Labeled in English ‘LADAKH MORNING-THE INDUS VALLEY, SERBJEET SINGH ORIGINAL 1959 (ACRYLIC ON BOARD)’ on verso 45.7 x 32.3 in (116.0 x 82.0 cm) Provenance The Artist’s Family Collection, New Delhi INR 1,000,000 – 1,500,000 USD 14,930 – 22,390 ‘The paintings of Serbjeet Singh show a stormy desolation in which man is overwhelmed by the awful majesty of nature. The people in his paintings, even when they are celebrating a festival, seem stultified by the terrible beauty of their surroundings. Often his figures stand lost and abandoned. Always their vitality has been drained from them, and only the metallic skies, ancient ice, blinding snowfields, the soaring rock, and the bitter winds breathe with violent life.’ – Humpfrey Evans, rpt. in Paintings by Serbjeet Singh , All India Fine Arts & Crafts Society (AIFACS) ExC., New Delhi 1955. ‘The intensity of Serbjeet’s equation with the mountains comes through even in a sketch. He declines to skirt the subject and plunges headlong into fathoming its mysteries... What the mountain lover finds exciting in these reduced “asides” is Serbjeet’s adventurousness. Trained to accept the challenge of the direct route to the essence of the world’s most ravishing range, his mastery of mood and line allows him to experiment with any technique that gets him nearer his goal. Even in small frame the Himalaya emerges from Serbjeet sketches as an exhilarating wonder the heart never tires of.’ – Bill Aitken rpt. Riaz , Art Indus ExC 102 | Osian’s–Connoisseurs of Art