Important Notice

Nasreen Mohamedi’s rejection of the representational and the figurative tradition many of her peers were engaged in, in favour of a clean, minimalist approach, speaks to the multiplicity of abstraction in Indian art. Though her works remain largely undated, one can observe distinct preoccupations through which definitive periods emerge. In the 1970s, she began exploring the vast potential of line on paper. Working primarily in pencil and ink... Nasreen Mohamedi’s rejection of the representational and the figurative tradition many of her peers were engaged in, in favour of a clean, minimalist approach, speaks to the multiplicity of abstraction in Indian art. Though her works remain largely undated, one can observe distinct preoccupations through which definitive periods emerge. In the 1970s, she began exploring the vast potential of line on paper. Working primarily in pencil and ink with draughtsman’s tools, she began to forge a new aesthetic, experimenting with the grid format popularised by Piet Mondrian and the Minimalists. As seen in the present lot, she developed a personalised vocabulary through the language of geometry, delicate grids, and deliberate, incisive lines to record her perceptions of the world. She used the entire pictorial space in her early grid drawings, working within a square and later a more expansive rectangular format. “She drew dense horizontal lines edge to edge...she widened and reduced the size of vertical registers and the spacing between horizontal lines to bring in other geometric elements. She charged the grid with dynamic movement through unexpected detour lines, skewed perspectives, illusions through patterns, and a dual sense of movement via the introduction of diagonals. Her interest in orthogonally ordered space dwindled to a shifting horizon or multiple horizons that amplified a layered depth through the use of crisscrossing lines and interstitial spaces.” (Roobina Karode, Nasreen Mohamedi: Waiting is a Part of Intense Living, Madrid: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, 2016, pp. 40–41)

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