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Lot 13

 

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“Padamsee’s early figures, done in the 1950s, were almost iconic in their rigid, frontal stances and the thickly contoured angularity of the bodies. These stiffly erect, archaic forms evoked a feeling of a distant obeisance to cult images rather than any human interaction” (Yashodhara Dalmia, The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2001, p. 213). The present lot, executed in Paris in 1953, is... “Padamsee’s early figures, done in the 1950s, were almost iconic in their rigid, frontal stances and the thickly contoured angularity of the bodies. These stiffly erect, archaic forms evoked a feeling of a distant obeisance to cult images rather than any human interaction” (Yashodhara Dalmia, The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2001, p. 213). The present lot, executed in Paris in 1953, is probably one of the first portraits that Padamsee painted after his graduation from the Sir J.J. School of Art in Mumbai, and represents the earliest phase of his lifelong preoccupation with the human figure.

The stark black line that etches the face and torso out of the background, the earthy palette of ochre and sienna, the stillness of the subject’s gaze, and his frontal stance, all point to the deep impact that primitive Indian art, particularly religious icons and sculptures, had on Padamsee as he set out on his artistic career. Geeta Kapur traces the line that connects the two, explaining that “…the prototype of these early portraits was that magnificent little sculpted head from Mohenjodaro, the bearded man wearing a decorative robe. In the process of evolution this Indian-Mesopotamian prototype developed into a prophet from the Semitic tradition…endowed with a concentrated, an obsessive, a greatly knowing presence. Akbar has sought to achieve this very presence in his figures; to give them the energy of withheld pain which, when it suffuses the body, gives it a presence” (“Akbar Padamsee: The Other Side of Solitude”, Contemporary Indian Artists, Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 1978, p. 88, 89).

The title of the series, Prophets, was suggested to Padamsee by Raza, who was also living in Paris at the time. However, Shamlal, Padamsee’s first biographer, believes that the title is incongruous with the paintings, noting that “There is a slight edge of irony in the labels he gave to this first significant series of portraits. He called them ‘prophets’. But they have nothing in common with the grand men of the Old Testament who have seen God face to face and who know what is in the womb of the future. All that Padamsee’s ‘prophets’, starting with the one with a cadmium yellow face, know is their past and the shadow it casts on their future. And all that they have seen face to face is themselves. If they have any prophecy to make it is that there is no defense against the ravages of time and no escape from despair” (Shamlal, Padamsee, Sadanga Series, Vakils, Bombay, 1964).

Offering a personal face to divine sanction and revelation, the subject in this painting, like Padamsee’s later figures, neither demands respect nor evokes pity, but rather stares steadfastly out of the canvas, almost defiant, in a manner that underscores the special, individual level on which he connects with each viewer.

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