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

54 Ganesh Pyne 1937-2013 Untitled Pen & ink, watercolour and wash on paper, 1962-63 Signed in Bengali ‘Ganesh Pyne’ l.r. 6.0 x 7.6 in (15.3 x 19.4 cm) Provenance Private New Delhi-based Collection; previously purchased from the younger brother of Ganesh Pyne in the late 1990s INR 800,000 – 1,200,000 USD 11,940 – 17,910 “Pyne’s fascination with animation films emerges in his use of unique zoological forms. Turning his creative imagination to animal and insect forms, he reinvents them before featuring them in his paintings, either using them independently or in fusion with a human figure. To express the deeper resonances that aspiration sets off within a living being, the artist often reverts to the image of a caged bird, one that recurs in the Baul songs of Lalan Fakir. As for Pyne’s bird-man (or bird-woman), a motif that is constantly worked upon in his paintings, it serves as a striking example of how the animal kingdom can be a source of artistic inspiration and the means of its expression. The earliest instance of the artist incorporating birds’ wings into human form is Wings, 1965, a pen and ink work.” – Sarkar, Shiladitya. Thirst of a Ministrel: The Life and times of Ganesh Pyne . New Delhi: Rupa& Co. 2005; pp.60-61. Indian Antiquities Modern Contemporary Fine Arts & Books | 117