Important Notice

As the present lot indicates, the works of K H Ara exude a sense of balance - be it in his still lifes, nudes or landscapes. “Though he paints in a style that reflects Impressionist tendencies, the attitude in these works is of an artist who wants to capture none of the superfluous movements and frenzy of emotions, but of the sensitivity and the ethereal quality of his subject.” (Kishore Singh ed., “K H Ara,” Continuum: Progressive Artists’... As the present lot indicates, the works of K H Ara exude a sense of balance - be it in his still lifes, nudes or landscapes. “Though he paints in a style that reflects Impressionist tendencies, the attitude in these works is of an artist who wants to capture none of the superfluous movements and frenzy of emotions, but of the sensitivity and the ethereal quality of his subject.” (Kishore Singh ed., “K H Ara,” Continuum: Progressive Artists’ Group, New Delhi: DAG, 2011, p. 165)

A self-taught artist, Ara’s association with the Progressive Artists’ Group likely heightened his innate modernist sensibilities and led him to discover his own unique painterly vocabulary. “Ara’s ceaseless experiments with bowls, fruits and vases with flowers were to develop a compositional syntax to which he lent a rugged buoyancy and an unremitting compassion. His singular achievement lay in coalescing these elements into a distinctive style, which made quite an impact on the period.” (Yashodhara Dalmia, “The Stillness of Life: Krishnaji Howlaji Ara,” The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 129)

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