Important Notice

Jagdish Swaminathan explored the Bird Mountain Tree series for nearly two decades, finding new combinations to present the three titular motifs. “What happens is that when you see a recognisable object, and notice it time and again, then you come to ‘feel’ its repetition.” (Jagdish Swaminathan, Art Etc. News and Views, originally published in Hindi in Ravivar, 1979, online)

Born in Simla, Himachal Pradesh in 1928, the influence of... Jagdish Swaminathan explored the Bird Mountain Tree series for nearly two decades, finding new combinations to present the three titular motifs. “What happens is that when you see a recognisable object, and notice it time and again, then you come to ‘feel’ its repetition.” (Jagdish Swaminathan, Art Etc. News and Views, originally published in Hindi in Ravivar, 1979, online)

Born in Simla, Himachal Pradesh in 1928, the influence of the art traditions of that region is apparent in Swaminathan’s work. The present lot features the vivid colours characteristic of the Bird Mountain Tree series, framed by a lilac border reminiscent of Pahari miniatures. Swaminathan also had a profound interest in the underlying symbolism of the folk and tribal art of Central India. He experimented with totemic symbols from early societies in a constant quest to simplify and find the origins, in his desire to return to purity. “His structures were elemental, uniquely his own. He conjugated them to create undreamt of images. Hills, birds, insects, plants, water, air, unbuildable buildings but no human beings. Their relationship on the canvas had nothing to do with the laws of this physical world… A rock suspended in mid?air with a sleek bird atop of it, a mountain reflected in a lake which leaves you guessing as to which is which, and steps on a monument leading nowhere.” (Krishen Khanna, J Swaminathan: Contemporary Indian Art Series, New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi, 1995)

The elements in this series are representative of larger ideas, and are themselves only agents. “The mind moves through the object to the idea, and through the idea to the object. Thus, the work becomes concrete and abstract at the same time.” (J Swaminathan, “The Traditional Numen and Contemporary Art,” New Delhi: Lalit Kala Contemporary Number 29, April 1980, p. 11)

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