Important Notice

Sadanand Bakre’s practices as a sculptor and painter were inextricably linked. He began his career in the 1940s, when many of his peers were searching for a form of artistic expression that reflected the changing realities of a newly independent India. As art historian Yashodhara Dalmia remarks, his works “could be considered a bridge between the old realist tradition and the free forms that were being ushered in. Even as his work was eclectic... Sadanand Bakre’s practices as a sculptor and painter were inextricably linked. He began his career in the 1940s, when many of his peers were searching for a form of artistic expression that reflected the changing realities of a newly independent India. As art historian Yashodhara Dalmia remarks, his works “could be considered a bridge between the old realist tradition and the free forms that were being ushered in. Even as his work was eclectic and varied, his forays into portraiture, his narrative and abstract sculptures were an attempt at finding a contemporary expressive means.” (Yashodhara Dalmia, “The View from the Wings,” The Making of Modern Indian Art, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 187)

Bakre had spent time as a young boy observing sculptor Raghunath Phadke and was also influenced by G B Mhatre and V P Karmarkar, both of whom sculpted primarily in the academic style. He first became acquainted with modernism when he joined the sculpture department of the J J School of Art in Bombay in 1939. His talent was nurtured by Charles Gerrard, the then head of the institution, and Rudy von Leyden, Emmanuel Schlesinger and Wayne Hartwell who introduced him to modern art in Europe and America. A few years later, he joined the Progressive Artists’ Group, formed in 1947, which gave new impetus to his own work. He participated in their early shows and by the late 1940s had developed a style characterised by “free-flowing form and unconventional shapes”. (Dalmia, pp. 190–191)

In 1951, Bakre set off for London with fellow artist Laxman Pai. Though he continued his practice as a sculptor, he also began painting more frequently at this time. Since finding a gallery to represent him proved to be difficult, he often displayed his works alongside other artists at Hyde Park and as part of a mobile gallery owned by art dealer Nicholas Treadwell.

Bakre’s “work made its mark with its variegated style and distinctive vigour.” (Dalmia, p. 189). He broke away from convention and favoured abstraction over academic realism. He remarked, “I am traditionally trained and perfectly capable of accomplishing completely realistic work. But my interest in forms has gone far beyond the dull imitations of subject matter, which to me is almost unimportant.” (S K Bakre, “All Art is Either Good or Bad,” Free Press Bulletin, 24 March, 1965) By 1959 his artistic vocabulary was influenced by members of the British avant-garde group the Vorticists, such as Jacob Epstein and Gaudier-Brezeska, and evolved to feature spiky forms and sharp, angular geometric shapes. A 1959 review in The Times described his sculptures as “poised among thin struts and spokes and tapering geometric wings of metal. Mostly rather small, these light and airy constructions have the appeal of unusually imaginative toys.” (Sadanand K Bakre, London: Grosvenor Gallery, 2023, p. 180)

Bakre’s paintings from the late 1950s and 1960s appear as extensions of his sculptures, as seen in the present lot where expressive, spiky forms are bound by strong lines. The interlocked triangular structures lend tension to the surface of the canvas. Explaining the significance of these geometric forms, the artist has said, “I saw everything mathematically. Everything depended on three parts not four, so it became a spike. Originally it was a trikone (triangle) and then it went on to other things. The number three struck me so when I painted it was three bottles, three trays, if I painted another one it did not give me satisfaction… It was a geometrical, mathematical phase. I felt the need to do this from some unknown experience of balance.” (The artist in an interview with Yashodhara Dalmia, Murud, October 1992)

Reviewing Bakre’s works for The Times in 1961, a critic wrote, “He never seems to go wrong with colours, strong, pure tone mix boldly and easily, and there is warmth in every picture… although some of the pictures seem to be [a] random collection of shapes, he says, each work still represents something that he sees first in his mind’s eye. He is happiest when he can spread himself over a large canvas. He has developed some characteristic forms and has room to set them boldly down. His sculpture clearly influences his painting, giving it a marked third dimension.” (Grosvenor Gallery, p. 182)

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