Osian's Auction Catalogue Indian Modern Fine Arts | June 2017

54 Jeram Patel (1930 – 2016) Untitled Ink and paint on paper pasted on board, 1976 S/d ‘JERAM PATEL 76’ l.r. Labeled by Dhoomimal Gallery on verso 24.0 x 36.0 in (61.0 x 91.3 cm) Provenance Purchased directly from the artist in 1976 by Dhoomimal Art Gallery. Illustrative Reference Illustration of same series rpt. In Jehangir Art Gallery (Institutional Author) & Ram Chatterjee (Editor). Indian Drawing Today 1987 . Bombay: Jehangir Art Gallery, 1987. p.41. Exhibition Reference Exhibited in Dhoomimal Exhibition. Text from Ajay Sinha rpt. In Contemporary Art In Baroda [Tulika: 1997]; p.159. INR 600,000 – 900,000 USD 9,375 – 14,063 “Primeval raw power of Black fascinates me in my inner humane journey beyond any movements around me. It is only through such an inner humane journey and also such confrontation and dialogue within oneself that the new art will be made possible.” Jeram Patel rpt. in Indian Drawing Today 1987. Bombay: Jehangir Art Gallery, 1987. p.40. For decades Jeram Patel has treaded his own path, unmindful of the market forces, and each time has brought to us with vigour and energy certain surcharged encounters with inner and outer reality…With solid opaque blacks; by mapping (not veiling) certain areas and by thin, and at times, almost vapour-like black and white grounds, Jeram Patel is once again to collect the scattered images, and then to present these in an integrated whole, without any prior plans and layouts – to be seen, felt and heard…remains of objects, and ‘lived in’ gestures, yet again, nothing specific is hinted. Prayag Shukla rpt. in Jeram Patel, Gallery Espace, 2004, ExC. 53* Prabhakar Barwe (1936 – 1995) Untitled Gouache on paper, 1975 S/d in Devanagari ‘Prabhakar Barwe 75’ l.l. 22.0 x 17.6 in (55.8 x 44.6 cm) Provenance Acquired from Delhi Art Gallery by Osian’s - Connoisseurs of Art in 2006-7. INR 400,000 – 600,000 USD 6,250 – 9,375 “Every component of a painting, be it form or colour, in a way gets transformed into space. That is to say that they (the components) get synthesized with the homogenous visual result of the painting- space. In the process of such transformation, colour or form gets detached from its restricted ‘actual-meaning-context’. And, from this alone, the visual result of the painting in totality is born. In my paintings such ‘result’, I feel, is abstract.” Prabhakar Barwe, rpt. in Paintings and Watercolours by Prabhakar Barwe, Gallery Chemould, 1992, ExC. The work belongs to the experimental phase in Barwe’s oeuvre when he worked for the Weaver’s Service Centre as Art Designer at Banaras from 1961- 65, and then specifically for this Lot later at Bombay. Works of this phase are also influenced by Tantric philosophy and symbolism. Observing about this phase Dnyaneshwar Nadkarni writes, “If you work at weaving design, how do you keep your ‘fine’ art alive? Barwe struggled through this problem with his colleagues… ‘It was a world full of exuberant experimentation’, Barwe once told me, ‘the atmosphere itself was creative. I found that the struggle between the utilitarian and the creative brought about a useful tension in me.’ Barwe was transferred to Varanasi and worked there for three years. We already know how his acquaintance with the Tantric cult affected his art.” Dnyaneshwar Nadkarni ‘Obituary / Prabhakar Barwe: A cult name in Indian art’ , Afternoon, December 09, 1995. Indian Modern Fine Arts | 121