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

34 # * Bhupen Khakhar (1934 – 2003) Untitled Pen and ink on paper, 1962 S/d ‘Bhupen ‘62’ l.r. 9.0 x 11.4 in (22.8 x 29.0 cm) Provenance Acquired from Gallery Chemould; previously purchased directly from the artist by Kekoo Gandhy and Gallery Chemould. INR 400,000 – 600,000 USD 6,250 – 9,375 ‘Bhupen started by admiring the work of Langhammer, a German émigré who painted landscapes in the manner of Kokoschka. He readily switched loyalties in 1958 when he met and befriended Pradumna Tana who was still following in the wake of the Bengal revivalists…Bhupen in turn started to “stylize” his naturalistic landscapes, making them suitably idyllic… By 1960 the influence of Tana had subsided. Bhupen now developed a new, rather remote attachment to Ram Kumar whose landscapes he saw reproduced in The Illustrated Weekly of India. At this time he met Gulam Sheikh who encouraged him, took him by the hand, more or less, and persuaded him to start off seriously by joining the Baroda Faculty of Fine Arts.’ Geeta Kapur in ‘Bhupen Khakhar - View from the Teashop’, rpt. in Contemporary Indian Artists 1978 ; pp.153-4. 86 | Osian’s–Connoisseurs of Art