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

62 Bireshwar Sen 1897-1974 The Haunted Cave Watercolour on paper, 1974 S/d in English ‘B.Sen 74’ l.r. Inscribed in English ‘THE HAUNTED CAVE, B.Sen 10.6.74’ on verso 4.8 x 6.8 in (12.3 x 17.2 cm) Provenance Private New Delhi-based Collection; previously acquired from the artist’s family collection & Prithwishwar Sen in 2008 INR 200,000 – 300,000 USD 2,990 – 4,480 ‘He devoted his ripening talents exclusively to the glory of the Himalayas which became his spiritual home…From amongst Hindu artists, he is perhaps the only one who has successfully resisted the love of romanticism and mythology. Though he is a clear thinker and a rationalist yet his pictures possess a mystical air and convey sentiments of a true lover of nature. In Bireshwar Sen, India has found the finest interpreter of the grandeur, mystery and beauty of her Himalayan mountains.’ – M.S. Randhawa rpt in Rooplekha XX No.2, 1948-49; pp131-2 ‘The work of Bireshwar Sen in the Himalayan phase, bears the transparent impress of Nicholas Roerich…. While Roerich had signalised their majesty in blazing colour harmonies, Bireshwar Sen functioned in terrible restraint, sometimes in very diminutive pictures, hardly larger than a match box, at which he worked with infinite patience to secure microscopic tone values…. Golden peaks amidst azure hills, with dark pines fringing a meandering rivulet... dissolving snow slipping down a mountainside… gentle colour harmonies in translucent tints of gold, greyish green and turquoise blue….’ – P.R. Ramachandra Rao, rpt. in Modern Indian Painting . Madras 1953; pp23-4. Indian Antiquities Modern Contemporary Fine Arts & Books | 137