Spring '20 Collection
Satish Gujral (1925 - 2020)
Untitled
Acrylic on canvas
42 x 42 in.
1995
Though Satish Gujral came into contact with the Progressive Artists’ Group (PAG), he found it difficult to reconcile with their techniques. The search for his own brand of modernism, would eventually lead to a completely unique style that was deeply rooted in Indian traditions and history, but also heavily inspired by Latin American Realist painters such as Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros whom he met while studying in Mexico City in the 1950s. A multi-disciplinary artist working in painting, sculpture, murals, architecture and interior design, Gujral
continually challenged the notions of Modern Indian art. His paintings have never been purely abstract, but in the early 1960's his style gradually evolved to privilege line and texture over explicit subjects, relying on form and design to its idea and mood.
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Jamini Roy (1887 – 1972)
Six Women
Gouache on paperboard
14 x 28 in.
Signed in Bengali Lower Right
Jamini Roy's Six Women, and the Apsara below, both stunningly powerful depictions of female forms in various incarnations rooted in Bengali folk culture, form a magnificent pair of works representing one of Roy’s most iconic and widely beloved subject matters. In them, one sees Roy’s masterful juxtaposition of rich earthy colors as well his unparalleled economy of line and style front and center; two defining qualities of his unique synthesis of folk art and Modernism which would revolutionize the course of 20th century Indian painting. Roy’s works possess an immediate and rare vitality, with their strength and popularity owed to the vividness of expression in his conceptual clarity and linear simplicity.
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Jamini Roy (1887 – 1972)
Apsara
Gouache on paperboard
19.5 x 12 in.
Signed in Bengali Lower Right
Born in West Bengal, Roy began his career painting in the post-impressionistic genre of landscapes and portraits, keeping in line with his British academic training, before eventually developing a new visual language rooted in folk tradition, where he substituted the conventions of ‘high art’ for the rustic pictorial language of Kalighat painting. Throughout his life, Roy’s prolific output lead to his unique vision of Indian Modernism becoming immensely popular across Indian society and thus a defining visual foundation for the country’s new art.
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