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

31 Sunil Das (1939 – 2015) Important Sketchbook of 51 pages & 54 drawings, including: Horse Series [18]; Ballet Series [16] and Portraits & Figures [20]) Full sketch book (51pages) 1959-60 S/d in Bengali on various pages 19.5 x 15.0 in (49.5 x 38.0 cm) Provenance Acquired directly from the Artist by Delhi Art Gallery; thereafter acquired by Osian’s - Connoisseurs of Art and sold to Private Mumbai- based Collector in 2005. INR 2,400,000 – 3,600,000 USD 37,500 – 56,250 As can be clearly seen, for such a rare and significant collection of high quality works Lot 31 is being offered at a bargain. The short term relative advantage of acquiring high quality works on paper still persists, as is evident from the data. This position will not remain so for much longer, especially as the disadvantage of being a prolific artist, as is Sunil Das, will dissolve once the level of aesthetic discrimination regarding his artistic output increases across the board. This collection of drawings represents a very rare opportunity to own a significant number of remarkably high quality charcoal & conte works, all executed during 1959-60 (considered by many connoisseurs to represent one of the very best periods of Sunil Das’ artistic output during which he won his Lalit Kala National Award & 10 state level awards), in one large folio-sized sketchbook, covering many brilliant drawings, especially on the Horse & Jockey and Ballet Series. “The horses in the drawings are obviously meticulous studies of thoroughbreds kept in different Calcutta stables for use by the police or for racing. But they are not portrayed as winner gallopers or as the slaves of race-track jockeys, not even as stallions symbolizing the heroic, noble and rational spirit of man as in the Classical and Renaissance art of Europe. They are neither as docile and decorative creatures of the miniature painting, nor are they reduced to the pure aesthetic elegance of the masterly Chinese brush strokes. They are most mettlesome horses drawn in their characteristic disposition and postures, bursting in every limb with a fierce, elemental energy disciplined only by bold lines and smudgy charcoal shades of finely graded tones. They have mobile, restless gestures with untamed and wild looks but there is nothing savage about them in all their cantering and galloping and prancing and bucking. They have their heads variously tilted, necks tensely stretched, arched or towered, legs folded, flung or collected in a bunch, often wearing a dark sinister visage with dreadful eyes, “His lines and forms even when most semantic are most self- expressive. The horses in his charcoal are no winner riders under complete control of a master jockey. The lines and strokes, unfailing though in their representational function, often go awry, swirl past the animal’s legs or magnificently moulded sides swing up in energetic curves or twirl in the tail to capture the whole gamut of a free, untamed spirit that is as much the artist’s as that of his subject.” Manasij Majumdar rpt. in Many Faces of Sunil Das EXC . Gallerie Ganesha 1996. “Sunil Das made his name in this city by his lively pictures of horses. These appeared as majestic impersonations of animal vitality in his studies. There were many competitors but none could give such a sense of immense power.” Rpt. in Amrita Bazar Patrika , 26 July 1965. flared nostrils and gaping mouths. Sinewy lines, sweep, writhe and curve from hooves to croups, flanks to forelegs and from manes to tails, exploring the contours of both form and spirit. The speedy, spontaneous strokes in charcoal never fail to communicate the entire gamut of the artist’s perceptions about horses, their robustness and raw vitality, their majesty and mystique, the strange drama of their impetuous movements and their alien, awesome animal being.” Manasij Majumdar rpt. in The Telegraph, 17 August 1988. Indian Modern Fine Arts | 77