Important Notice

The present lot is part of the Christ series that Krishen Khanna explored throughout his career. His characters, however, embody the subaltern figures from contemporary Delhi, specifically the Nizamuddin Bhogal area where he lived for over a decade. Khanna's choice in conflating the two characters was inspired by a personal memory when he drove to Simla with his father. On their way, they stopped at a dhaba for tea, and his father... The present lot is part of the Christ series that Krishen Khanna explored throughout his career. His characters, however, embody the subaltern figures from contemporary Delhi, specifically the Nizamuddin Bhogal area where he lived for over a decade. Khanna's choice in conflating the two characters was inspired by a personal memory when he drove to Simla with his father. On their way, they stopped at a dhaba for tea, and his father remarked that any of the waiters at the cafe could be a Christ figure.

According to Gayatri Sinha, Khanna's concern with depicting Christ "is informed by a sense of the tragic. In his work the religious context becomes overwhelmingly social; we do not see Christ, the son of God, as reformer, healer, preacher, iconoclast, as leader of men. Instead he becomes the human prototype pushed to the brink by betrayal and greed. The figures have a strongly defined quality, the rugged physique of the labour class, sun darkened bodies and rough, even callous faces. The Christian theme becomes a subaltern, Indian tragedy, of the outcome of conflict with figures of authority..." (Gayatri Sinha, Krishen Khanna, New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2001, p. 135)

In depicting these paintings, Khanna uses the device of an architectural backdrop with neoclassical features such as the arches, columns, and balconies associated with British Indian architecture, as seen in the present lot. With this stylistic element, Khanna "removes all necessity of painting a background and effectively places the figure in front, as on a narrow stage... The neoclassic arches and pillars recall the architecture of BritishIndian police stations dotted around the country and are emblematic of colonial power." (Sinha, pp. 137-138)

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