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Lot 33

 

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The present lot is a rare, early work by Krishen Khanna from a brief but artistically rich phase of his career, before he began painting his trademark bandwalla series. In early 1953, the artist moved to Madras (now Chennai) with his wife and daughter, while working for Grindlays Bank. The slow tempo of the society and the calming rhythm of his day job contributed to a period of "personal contentment and greater lyricism than Krishen had... The present lot is a rare, early work by Krishen Khanna from a brief but artistically rich phase of his career, before he began painting his trademark bandwalla series. In early 1953, the artist moved to Madras (now Chennai) with his wife and daughter, while working for Grindlays Bank. The slow tempo of the society and the calming rhythm of his day job contributed to a period of "personal contentment and greater lyricism than Krishen had ever expressed before in painting", according to Gayatri Sinha. "Apart from a series of paintings on musicians, Krishen also did a number of figurative works with women as the subject. With their rich skin tones and sensuous forms, they comprise the only body of female nude figures in Krishen's oeuvre...Krishen reacted to the colours of Madras, the strong nearly white light, the dark brown-bodied figures, especially of migrant labour that was pouring into the city, the frequent sight of hawkers selling fruit". (Gayatri Sinha, Krishen Khanna: A Critical Biography, New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2001, p. 48) The present lot, depicting a young woman with bare twigs and branches bunched in her hands, is likely one such painting from this period.

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