Jehangir Sabavala
(1922 - 2011)
Nude
"I am essentially a figurative painter with a strong predilection towards landscape. It is central to my work, and yet the figure whether wraithlike or human, is often present as a part of the whole." - JEHANGIR SABAVALA Lots 8 and 9 are rare early works by Jehangir Sabavala, likely painted when he was studying at the Acadmie Andr Lhote in Paris. Having spent over ten years as a student at art schools in Europe and India,...
"I am essentially a figurative painter with a strong predilection towards landscape. It is central to my work, and yet the figure whether wraithlike or human, is often present as a part of the whole." - JEHANGIR SABAVALA Lots 8 and 9 are rare early works by Jehangir Sabavala, likely painted when he was studying at the Acadmie Andr Lhote in Paris. Having spent over ten years as a student at art schools in Europe and India, Sabavala had mastered the art of the still life painting. Lot 8 depicts a humble assortment comprising a jug, a bottle of wine, a few apples layered on a red tablecloth. The artist once said that his process involved a "great deal of intellectualising: the analysis of planes, the passages of light. I became more sure of how I wanted my paintings fractured and adopted a definite form, a daring, highpitched and highkeyed palette." (Artist quoted in Ranjit Hoskote, The Crucible of Painting: The Art of Jehangir Sabavala, Mumbai: Eminence Designs Pvt. Ltd., 2005, p. 63) In the artist's early works, the human form was shrouded in silence and encapsulated the notion of solitude, as seen in lot 9. During this period, he painted a series of nudes with an impressionistic eye for light and colour, and also made a number of charcoal and pencil sketches. The human body was of cynosural importance to Sabavala, who said, "A painter who cannot paint a nude cannot paint a landscape." (Artist quoted in Hoskote, p. 43)
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Lot
9
of
40
THE CURATED AUCTION SERIES
19-20 APRIL 2021
Estimate
Rs 60,00,000 - 80,00,000
$83,335 - 111,115
Winning Bid
Rs 61,20,576
$85,008
(Inclusive of Buyer's Premium)
ARTWORK DETAILS
Jehangir Sabavala
Nude
Signed and dated 'Sabavala/ 49' (upper right); inscribed and dated 'Nude / Jehangir Sabavala Paris 49' (on the reverse)
1949
Oil on canvas
17.5 x 23 in (44.5 x 58.4 cm)
PROVENANCE Acquired directly from the artist, circa 1970s Private Collection, Mumbai An Important Corporate Collection, India Saffronart, Mumbai, 15 February 2014, lot 36 Property of a Gentleman, New Delhi
EXHIBITEDPaintings and Drawings by Jehangir Sabavala , Bombay: Taj Art Gallery, 2 - 11 April 1951Jehangir Sabavala: A Retrospective , Mumbai and New Delhi: National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), 19 December 2005 - 9 January 2006 PUBLISHED Paintings and Drawings by Jehangir Sabavala , Bombay: Taj Art Gallery, 1951 (illustrated) Ranjit Hoskote ed., The Crucible of Painting: The Art of Jehangir Sabavala , Mumbai: Eminence Designs Pvt. Ltd., 2005, p. 64 (illustrated) Kishore Singh ed., The Naked and the Nude: The Body in Indian Modern Art , New Delhi: Delhi Art Gallery, 2013, p. 44 (illustrated)
Category: Painting
Style: Figurative
ARTWORK SIZE:
Height of Figure: 6'